Mahatma Gandhi once said: “I like your Christ but I do not like you Christians. You Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Ouch. The truth hurts, doesn’t it?

Oftentimes, we as a group are so focused on doctrine and theology —which are important to grow in faith — but then neglect to emulate the person we claim is our Lord and Savior, which is equally important.

So many awful things have been done in the name of God: the crusades, killing and persecution of homosexuals, oppression of women, the conquest of my own native land hundreds of years ago. So many awful things have been done by people claiming to be messengers of God: sexual abuse, pilfering of church offerings, personal prejudices masquerading as righteous judgments from God. To be honest, I don’t blame the many people who shun the idea of the god that has been represented by these atrocities. I am so, so sorry that self-proclaimed Christians have done and continue to do these things. I am so sorry if anyone has ever personally made you think that that is what Christ taught.

So many Christians have become the very thing that Jesus positioned himself against. Religious people called Him “a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:18-19) and He called out the religious hypocrites who feigned holiness with no humility or real submission to God.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 7:21

One time when I was still searching for truth (I was a secret agnostic for a while though I still attended church just to keep my parents happy) and I went to a Bible study with some people from my old church in Cebu. I was going through a life crisis and was about to go back to school in Manila to study fashion design. When our small group leader asked each of us if we wanted her to pray about something specific, I mentioned my career change and wanted to ask for guidance in my new path. During the prayer, she said “…and help Ruby, Lord, in her choice, even though it seems worldly…”

I don’t even remember the rest of it because that made me so shocked and angry, I decided right then and there that I was done with that church. I never went back to that group again. 

Is that what Jesus would have done? 

We Christians are fond of saying that we shouldn’t care what the world thinks of us, that any bad thing the world has to say about us is just “persecution”. Should we care if people say bad things about us when we love our enemies, turn the other cheek, accept without judgment, spread the Good News, exhibit the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22)? No, we shouldn’t. But should we care if they say bad things about us when we go against everything Jesus taught? When we display and preach hatred, gloom, war, impatience, condemnation, hostility, hypocrisy, wrath and self-indulgence? When we make the rest of the world think that this is the character that comes as a result of having a relationship with Christ? ABSOLUTELY, WE SHOULD CARE! Being a Christian isn’t a license to be a jerk. In fact, there is more pressure on us to behave differently.

Let us never forget:

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:3-5

I remember the day I first realized what this meant, and the incredible love that God has for me, for all of us. No condemnation; only amazing, undeserved favor that I had no part in achieving. I needed only to reach out for Him and He accepted me, blemishes, scars and all.  

We will never be perfect, we will mess up every single day of our lives. But as self-proclaimed followers of Christ, we should be able to humble ourselves, recognize and admit our own weaknesses, and surrender them to God.

On our own, we won’t be able to do it. That’s why we have to stop relying on our own strength. God knows for years I’ve tried to control my own temper and I was never able to. It simply was not in my nature to keep it under control and I often blew my top, many times over very little things. Since I surrendered this weakness to God, I’ve found myself getting less and less high-strung (though I sometimes still catch myself getting worked up over little things) and I am immediately convicted when I start going off. I still have so many things that God needs to work on, and I know He’ll be chiseling at them for the rest of my life if I just let Him. 

Let’s not try to defend our own personal shortcomings then use God as our excuse. Instead, let’s ask for Him to change our hearts. Perhaps when we start becoming more Christlike than just Christian, more people would find it easier to draw near to Him.

Will you? He is waiting. 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28