The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. –G.K. Chesterton

This is a quote I often hear repeated by people trying to spur the Church to live out it’s mission.  The “Christian ideal” is not a “free ticket to heaven” for after we die.  The “Christian ideal” is the full teaching of Jesus Christ – which forces us to look at our lives and ask ourselves if we are really living out what Jesus says we’re supposed to be living out.

I think part of the problem is how little time churches tend to spend on the actual teaching of Jesus.  If we spent more time in the teachings of the one we claim as “Lord” (given that Jesus seemed to think obeying his teaching was rather important, I think we should), then I imagine the public outcry heard by Christians would be a lot less about regaining or maintaining cultural power.  Instead public statements, even when we suffer some wrong from others, would sound a lot more like Stephen in Acts 7:60, “Don’t hold this sin against them.”

The Lord who leads to that type of compassionate forgiveness is one worth googling.