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?? hiding your struggles ??
Published by bryan | Filed under Don Answers your ???s
Don,
why don’t you live closer to me so we can be best friends? Reading Blue Like Jazz has been so refreshing for me; to find someone who thinks so similarly and feels comfortable enough to drink a beer in front of christians. We really do think alike though, seriously. And don’t worry, I’m not hitting on you; I have a husband.
Here’s my real question. Do you think it’s good to talk about your struggles with sin to “non-christian†friends? I have quite a few of these friends, and since I’m such an extrovert, I can’t not talk about this stuff. I think it’s important to be authentic and honest with all my friends. I know a lot of us, as Christians, feel the need to pretend we don’t struggle with “worldly†sins, especially around certain people. What do you think of all this?
JLM
Julz,
Yeah, sure. If they’re your friends, think you should be open with them. Everybody struggles against temptation, so it’s not like they aren’t going to understand. I think there is a temptation to “represent” God by hiding our secrets from people, but that’s just lying. Does that make sense? Thanks Julz!
Don
May 26th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
One of the most impactfull things a pastor did for me before I was saved was to tell me they were mean. That he was banned from church sports because he wasn’t happy just winning he wanted to grind the losers face in the mud. It was one of the best things I heard because I realized being a follower of Jesus didn’t mean I had to be perfect. I think that talking about struggling with sin can be good in degrees. To one extent there is the danger of glorifying it to non-christians and inadvertantly giving them the idea that as long as you repent you can keep living the way you want with no thought to living a life that honors God. On the other hand I know there are people out there that still believe Christians have to be perfect and they resent us because of it. Being an authentic person in Christ, warts and all is part of the testimony that God has written for each of us. We shouldn’t hide it, but we should be careful to give the glory in our struggles to God and God alone.