Is it just me, or does it seem like we are living in super-critical times? I used 
to enjoy watching political news on television, but now I can only take it in small doses because I hate hearing politicians being so super-critical of each other. Come to think of it, that may be the reason why so many people have turned away from the church. Who needs to feel like they’re always being criticized?
However, I’ve learned something from all these years of being a Christ-follower. The more conscious I am of the work God has yet to do in me, the less critical I am about what God has yet to do in you. The more aware I become as I follow Jesus, of what God still needs to do in me, the less critical I am of what God needs to do in you!
You see, one of the reasons some people quit church is because some judgmental Christians had quit following and started evaluating. They decided they had followed enough, so now they would just help God evaluate and criticize you! And you hated that.
However, if Imagine Church is a group of people who are following, nobody will feel judged; if this is a church of people who get up every day and make the same decision — I’m going to follow — then this will be a place like Jesus maybe wants it to be. Where people who are unlike you will find that you like them. And maybe collectively we will be what we’re supposed to be, the body of Christ.
Maybe then people would feel in our presence what they felt in Jesus’ presence: fully loved, fully accepted, before they ever tried to change a thing. Because the invitation is not, “Come, make yourself a new person.” It is not, “Come, and drop all your habits.” It is not, “Come, and work through all your baggage.” It’s just follow. And if you do, if you follow, you will change, from the inside out. And you will surprise yourself at the difference God can make — not because you’ve committed to changing, but because you decided to follow.
