Easy Believerism

Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Romans 14:4, NIV

My best friend told of a family gathering where someone addressed the subject of "easy believerism". Apparently he felt is a very bad ism. He makes me think of a stuffy member of a country club who complains, "Seems they are letting anyone in these days!"

The membership in the church is so varied that people often complain about who the Lord calls. By definition, everyone is born, but no one is "more born" than anyone else.

Now imagine a foot race between two contestants. Let's make it a high hurdle event. When the gun goes off one runner strides out ahead, running like a Greyhound and clearing the hurdles with ease. The other poor soul is not running well at all, and at the first hurdle he trips and stumbles. At the race's conclusion the winner tells the loser, "You were awful. Too bad you weren't born as much as I was."

This ridiculous story is how some holier than thou Christians sound when they talk of "easy believerism". They have a list of conditions that people must follow to show that they are real Christians, like they are.

If we want to criticise others, let us not make their so called easy birth the subject. That has already occurred, just as we are all in the footrace. How well we run the race is another matter. Many people have burdens and problems that we can not even imagine.

The gifts that the Holy Spirit gives are not equal in kind or amount. Can you name anyone with the gifts of Saint Paul? An olympian said, "Even if I don't run as well as others, it is an honor to be in the race at all."