I am 19 years old. I do not know everything. There are many who are more qualified than I to preach the Gospel and to say what I am about to say, but God has put this on my heart to share. And I have learned the hard way that his plan is always better than mine, so here we go:

As a Christian, I am sorry if you have been hurt by another Christian. I am sorry if you have been “damned to hell” or publicly criticized. I am sorry if you have been given up on. I am sorry if someone has told you that God doesn’t love you. I am sorry if you have been gossiped about. I am sorry if someone has shoved religion down your throat. That is not what Jesus is about, and as his followers, we have misrepresented him and his love to you. I’m sorry if a Christian’s actions have tainted your view of Christ. I'm sorry if MY actions have tainted your view of Christ.

We love God, but we aren’t God. We aren’t perfect. We all fail, we are hypocrites, we are flawed. We seek the truth, but all too often we spew lies. We want to be loved, but each day we don’t love the people around us as best as we can. Every single Christian has a struggle to overcome. And although we may seem perfect and righteous, and appear to have it all together, none of us does, but we serve The One who does.

Someone once asked me, “ If there are Christians who lie, cheat, have sex outside of marriage, and get drunk all the time, what makes them any better than non-Christians who do the same thing? What makes you holy and me a hypocrite?” I had no idea what to say, and for a while, I saw myself beginning to doubt my faith, doubt God. When I heard those words, I started to tear up, not because I was hurt or offended, but because it reminded me of how short I fall each day of my life. It reminded me that God calls me His child, but yet I turn from him, I betray him. This person had just pointed out that I disobey God the same way a non-believer does. I am supposed to know of His love, His sacrifice, and His glory, but I treat him the same way as someone who knows none of it does. Wow. It wasn’t until I was sitting in a college service a year later that I finally found the answer to that question. My college pastor said, “The difference is, as Christians, we have hope.” That was so true. Because we know Christ, we know his forgiveness, and we are able to forgive ourselves. And that empowers us to get back up. When Christians sin, we get back up on our feet. We don’t stay down, we rise up and start acting like men and women we know God has called us to be. When a relative dies, we are heart broken, but we have hope in God, knowing he will restore our aching hearts. When we hit rock bottom and life seems unbearable, we have hope, knowing God has already won the battle we are in and has a bright future the He has designed waiting for us.

We do not serve ourselves, we serve The Lord. We go by his rules not our own. Telling someone they are going to hell, or talking about some behind their back, or judging them is NOT in God's plan. But His word is law, and if his commands offend you, I am not sorry. It’s not my place to apologize on behalf of the almighty God and pretend like His word is flawed or outdated because it isn’t in accordance with your lifestyle. There are even parts of the bible I don’t like, that really rub me the wrong way. But because I have a relationship with Jesus, I trust him. I have hope for him. As believers, we are supposed to love people and be God’s most trusted representatives, but I will be the first to tell you that we are broken and dysfunctional and sometimes we do more harm than good.

We are just imperfect people trying to serve a perfect God. So I ask you, next time you are hurt by a Christian, don’t swear off the bible forever. Don’t turn from the church because one person hurt you. Turn to God. Want to know the exact truth? Learn about Him from His word.

Christians: we are the reason people turn away from God. Because someone has been hurt or dishonored by a Christian, they want nothing to do with us or the God we serve. We are His hands and feet on this earth. It’s a great responsibility, and we - myself included - need to start doing a better job of just showing people God’s love and who Jesus really is.