# 1 - pretending certain scriptures only apply to non-believers

i don't regularly read stuff christians like so this topic may have been covered there and i wouldn't know it. plus that blog is on like # 7,897,583 ... so chances may be good.

i was thinking about this a week or so ago when listening to some Christians talk about the sin(s) of others. i am DEFINITELY guilty of this very often, but it's easier to notice in other people. i started thinking about Romans 3:23. i think we, as believers, tend to apply that verse to non-believers only. just because we're saved, doesn't mean WE still don't sin and fall short. we've been reconciled by Christ, but WE still fall short. i know, as believers, we want bad non-Christians to become good Christians, like us. but we often start to ignore our sin in the process.

it's the age old problem of thinking we're better than the lost because we're saved. newsflash, believers: there's a difference between ignorant (uneducated, don't know any better) and stupid (know better and sin anyway).

i don't know if this is making sense. it made sense to me before i sat down to type it out!

yesterday, i taught on revelation 3:15-20. this passage also contains a verse we like to apply to non-Christians, only.

`Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.'
Revelation 3:20

we like to use this verse as an invitation to the lost, but this message in revelation is to the church. Christ's dinner invite is to believers! i don't think there's undo judgment being passed off with this verse like we're prone to with the romans passage. but i think we're missing out on the greatest "guess who's coming to dinner?" ever!

as john piper put it:

It is addressed to lukewarm Christians who think they have need of nothing more of Christ. It is addressed to churchgoers who do not enjoy the riches of Christ or the garments of Christ or the medicine of Christ because they keep the door shut to the inner room of their lives. All the dealings they have with Christ are businesslike lukewarm dealings with a salesman on the porch.

But Christ did not die to redeem a bride who would keep him on the porch while she watched television in the den. His will for the church is that we open the door, all the doors of our life. He wants to join you in the dining room, spread a meal out for you, and eat with you and talk with you. The opposite of lukewarmness is the fervor you experience when you enjoy a candlelit dinner with Jesus Christ in the innermost room of your heart. And when Jesus Christ, the source of all God's creation, is dining with you in your heart, then you have all the gold, all the garments, and all the medicine in the world.

i know there are probably myriad other verses that Christians like to apply only to non-Christians, but these two popped up over the last couple of weeks.

feel free to list/explain more in the comments!