#BeLikeMegan

Alright folks, it’s time for me to weigh in.

If you keep up with me on Facebook, you’ve seen me share a bunch of selfies of people eating food (mostly sweets) in their bathrooms with the hashtag: #BeLikeMegan.

So let me explain.

This past Sunday, I was welcoming everyone to our worship service on Mother’s Day.  So I felt compelled to do my best, as a son, husband and father to honor all the mom’s out there and sympathize with their struggle of raising up children.  I started off strong.  But then, as things tend to do when I go off script, I digressed into a silly story about my amazing wife.  It was a story about how I walked in on her stuffing her face with chocolate cake on the floor of our bathroom.  Again… it went downhill before I knew what was coming out of my mouth.

As Megan buried her face and the audience roared with laughter, I quickly recovered by winking at her and saying, “Happy Mother’s Day babe!”

In case you are worried about Megan… or me for that matter… she handled it with the grace I have come to love so much.  She forgave me, laughed it off, and enjoyed the rest of her day being honored by our children.

I wasn’t prepared for what came next though.

This story spoke to several of the women in our congregation.  Because they know that Megan is not alone.  Lots of women have found themselves on the proverbial, if not actual, bathroom floor in their lives.  I can assure you, women aren’t alone either.  Sometimes we just need a break.  Sometimes we just need to eat cake without sharing!

So our friend, Tracy Passmore, started the hashtag and posted a picture of herself eating some sweets in her bathroom.  You can read her blog about this experience here.

 

This whole thing has got me wondering though… why do we feel the need to pretend to be perfect?  Why are we all in a constant pursuit to look like someone we all know we aren’t?  What would it be like if we would stop this charade and get real?

The Bible verse I have TRIED to based my entire life around is Matthew 6:33.

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Most people focus on the beginning of this verse or the end.  They focus on seeking God’s kingdom first, or they focus on all the stuff God will give them if they put him first in their life.

But right in between the two “and’s” is a part of the verse that my generation doesn’t like very much.  Jesus tells us to seek God’s righteousness.  Us younger Christians are all about Kingdom living.  We LOVE serving the poor, crying out for the voiceless, taking care of the sick, feeding the hungry, digging wells for the thirsty… that really makes us FEEL good!  And everyone loves the idea that God will protect and provide for us along the way, right?

But living righteously… well that’s legalism talk right there!  And no one likes a legalist these days.  And so we handle this by doing several things:

1. We cover up our moral failures as much as we can so that we look better than we are.
2. We immerse ourselves in service so that we feel more righteous than we are.
3. We justify the sins we can’t hide so that we don’t have to think of them as sins anymore… just “struggles.”

The problem with this approach is that it’s not helping us and it’s not helping anyone else.

1. As Tracy said in her blog, when we cover over our own sins, we allow others to put us on a pedestal that only Christ should be on. And when we come crashing down from that pedestal, we will take their faith with us.
2. When we serve others so that we can feel better about ourselves, we are not serving others, we are serving ourselves. We become just as legalistic as the ones we can’t stand.
3. When we justify our “struggles” and refuse to admit they are sins, we strip God of another opportunity to show us mercy.

It’s time for this to end.  No one likes a phony anyway.  So let’s just stop pretending!  Let’s be real with each other!  After all, part of living right involves confessing our sins to one another and forgiving each other.

This hashtag #BeLikeMegan isn’t about celebrating the times when we are selfish or justifying the times when we are less than perfect.  It’s about being real.  It’s about being honest.  Not just with others, but with yourself and with God.  Seek God’s kingdom first and His righteousness.  If you do, you’ll never have to worry again!