Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that Christianity offers hope and redemption to those who struggle with their flaws rather than just improving the already 'good' individuals.
This quote by Tullian Tchividjian highlights a fundamental aspect of Christianity: it is not merely a moral improvement system for already decent people but rather a source of hope and guidance for those who acknowledge their shortcomings. It suggests that Christianity provides comfort and acceptance to individuals who fail to meet moral standards, acknowledging that everyone struggles and needs grace.
In practice
During a church sermon discussing grace and forgiveness.
Christianity is not about good people getting better. If anything, it is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The heart of the Christian faith is Good News, not good advice, good technique, or good behavior. Too many people have walked away from the church, not because theyβre walking away from Jesus, but because the church has walked away from Jesus.
Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable.
Grief, of course, is not something that operates according to a specific time frame, and it seems cold to suggest otherwise. Yet when we do not grasp that God is present in pain, we eventually insist on victory or, worse, blame the sufferer for not "getting over it" fast enough. This is more than a failure to extend compassion; it's an exercise in cruelty.
Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.
If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.
To a modern mind, it is difficult to feel enthusiastic about a virtuous life if nothing is going to be achieved by it.
One of the pitfalls of writing about illness is that it is very easy to imagine people with cancer as either these wise, beyond-their-years creatures or else these sad-eyed, tragic people. And the truth is people living with cancer are very much like people who are not living with cancer.
Taking somebody's money without permission is stealing, unless you work for the IRS; then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania, unless you work for the Army; then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy, unless you work for the FBI; then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp and poisoning people makes you a murderer, unless you work for the CIA; then it's counter-intelligence.
Perhaps if you know you are insane then you are not insane. Or you are becoming sane, finally.
Full sexual consciousness and a natural regulation of sexual life mean the end of mystical feelings of any kind. In other words, natural sexuality is the deadly enemy of mystical religion. The church, by making the fight over sexuality the center of its dogmas and of its influence over the masses, confirms this concept.
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