Struggling or Deliberate Disobedience

I was listening to the radio the other day and a woman called up to ask a question, "How can I be closer to Jesus instead of just being a baseline Christian?" When hearing the question, I assumed the host would answer as I would "Study the Word of God, pray and keep His commandments." Although these were all apart of her answer, the first comment she mentioned in response to the question struck me by surprise, "Stop hanging out with baseline people." Wow! I was shocked. The host of the program was advising this woman to stop hanging out with basic, average Christians in order to gain a closer relationship with God. I found this very interesting.

Growing up, I always knew who the Lord was and what He did for me. But to call myself a Christian (follower of Christ), would have been an exaggeration. When the Lord came to me and I gave my life to Him, I was so happy and excited to start this new journey. But because I was so new, I didn't know where to start. So, I read the Bible. The Bible taught me who God is and what Jesus did for me. It taught me how to live like a Christian and what is pleasing to God. So when I went out in the world to go to church and hang out with my new Christian friends, I thought we would all be on the same page doing the same thing. I soon found out I was wrong.

Because I was so new, I almost looked to other Christians to see what they were doing and how they were living their lives. More importantly, I looked to people who were like me and who were doing the same thing as me. They would understand my struggles and be able to provide me with encouragement through my trials in addition to prayer. I found that a lot of things the Bible told us is bad for us though (God never withholds any good thing from His children Psalms84.11), they were partaking in. But they were all calling themselves Christians. I even had one friend say to me "I know sex before marriage is a sin...but I do it anyway." This was very confusing to me.

Reconnecting to my opening paragraph, I have recently begun to question if individuals who identify with Christianity but do not keep the commandments of God or who do not have a relationship with Him are holding other Christians back from gaining a closer relationship to Him? Are Christians who are lukewarm discouraging Christians from seeking a higher spiritual level with the Lord? Proverbs 28.9 says "One who turns his ear away from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination." Are Christians who do not obey the Lord praying for other Christians and turning blessings into curses?

I went to my friend's school which is a Christian school. I fell into the same naiive trap I did when I gave my life to Christ and I expected everyone there to be on the same page, devoted to doing the Lord's will. But when I got there, I found that people were disobeying. I spoke to my friend about this and she felt I was being judgmental as if I was expecting everyone to be perfect. This is far from true! That is not the point I am trying to get across. My point stands here: there is a difference between struggling with a particular sin or temptation and deliberately going against the Word of God knowingly. Are we as Christians giving other Christians the green light to sin by pulling the "Jesus will forgive you" card? Is this attitude keeping us back from gaining a closer and stronger relationship with the Father?

Please let me hear your ideas.

Blessings