Forget the Church and Follow Jesus

That was the title of an article I saw the other day,
and I'm still thinking it through.
There are actually several kinds of Christians.

Some just say it, maybe they read a book. I'm not talking about them

Some say something like this:
"there are 673 commandments and I intend to keep them all."
They are the ones sitting front and centre in Sunday School saying "me, me, pick me"
That's fine, someone needs to pass out the pencils,
and all that other stuff.
But the problem is that some of them don't want any "badness" to get on them.
To my children: Do you remember the guy who stopped at the door of a house we were visiting, and asked for a tunafish sandwich?
The owner of the house sent him away....
That moment affected me profoundly and I learned an important lesson that day.
Some are so absorbed in "being good"
that they forget to "be nice"

There are other people who are best described by this little segment
"He did ease the burden of the people,
by which he did gain favour
in the eyes of the people,
and he did do justice unto the people,
but not unto himself,
because of his many [sins]"
Oskar Schindler of "Schindler's List" is an example.

Some Christians are absorbed in "doing good"
and easing the pain of others,
but the "fight in the trenches" (as it were) is dirty work.
Sometimes we are in houses that serve us "unclean food"
and in the company of people who are not keeping all 673 commandments.

But your mom's advice is this:
Follow Jesus. He walked with people, his feet got dirty.
He healed the sick with spit and dirt.
(Remember that Jesus was "in all points tempted..yet without sin.")
but the point today is that it is better to be kind to other people,
Reduce their stress, give good instructions, spare all of us the criticism.