"It's Not You, It's Me"

“It’s not you, it’s me.” A cliché that has been around forever, this is one of those lines that is thrown around often when someone chooses to end a relationship but does not have the intestinal fortitude to be completely honest with someone else about what makes it impossible to be together any longer. In other words, I believe it is safe to say this phrase is a cop-out in an overwhelming majority of situations.

However, “It’s not you, it’s me,” gives us the chance to ask ourselves what is it within us that is keeping us from moving this relationship forward. Especially in light of our current circumstances, I believe ALL of us have been given the chance to look more closely, and honestly, at who we are and where we are with respect to our faith - individually and as a community.

There are times in all of our lives where we may not be as trusting or faithful to God as we would like to think, or as we know we should. This is quite normal and natural - I think a mark of true unfaithfulness would be to never feel the need to re-examine our conscience and dive into what might be keeping us from being more faithful to Christ and His church.

In John’s gospel, Jesus talks about this in a particular way, framing faith (or lack thereof) through the lens of the disciple’s responsibilities in the midst of an unfailing love from God through Christ. Specifically, let’s look at John 12:44-47:

Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

Notice that Jesus is making us own our own faith (or lack thereof.) Jesus is quite clear here in saying his motives are specifically NOT about judging those who choose to ignore him. Indeed, he speaks about coming to save, not judge, the world.

What this begs of us is simple - do we choose to be faithful followers of Christ, seeking to do his will as ones who are called to bring life to our sphere of influence through thought, word, and deed?

Building upon this, do we choose to be those who spread Christ’s love of all, embodying the fact Christ came to save, not to judge? Do we allow ourselves the opportunity to counter the judgmental anger and bitterness of the world with the love of the One who came to save, not judge the world?

Conversely, do we allow ourselves to be those who add to the cacophony of negative judgmentalism and anger that seems to be so prevalent in so much of our society these days?

With respect to our faithfulness to God’s calling, one might yet truly be honest when they say to Jesus, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Why? Simple. Jesus came to save, not to judge. Rejecting Jesus (either intentionally or not) is our choice - Jesus does not reject us. Thank the Lord!  

Grace & Peace,
Lamar