Lately it seems like quotes from Fred Rogers pop up on Facebook every week. Perhaps that’s because there have been some new biographies released in the past couple years. In the past few months I’ve read The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King, as well as an older biography, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers by Amy Hollingsworth. One comment he made often in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was “I like you just the way you are.” I have a lot of respect for Fred Rogers and his legacy, and I remember watching him when I was little (and not-so-little).
However, I have to wonder about what I call the “Mister Rogers’ mentality” that seems prevalent among many Christians. By that I mean the idea that God loves us just the way we are and does not ask us to change. Some sectors of the church have drifted into a kind of universalism that accepts any kind of lifestyle and refuses to call anything sinful. There are those who cling to John 3:16, “God so loved the world…” and yet ignore the context:
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God… Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (19-21, 36 ESV).
God sent Jesus to proclaim His love and redeem us out of sin, not to leave us in our sinful ways. As someone said (and has been attributed to various people), “God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way.” The Apostle Paul wrote:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5).
“Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
God loves us unconditionally, but He also expects us to change. By His grace and mercy we can turn from sin and learn to overcome temptation. This sanctifying process will not be finished in this lifetime, but if we are not seeing any progress over time we should be concerned. That’s one of the main reasons we are to be active members of a church that recognizes its responsibility to the Body of Christ. We need those in our lives who will “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
We all need people who will remind us that they love us no matter what stupid thing we’ve said or what sinful thing we’ve done. But if they truly love us, they should also be willing to admonish us for the patterns of sin they see in our lives. Some have said that love which is not expressed is not love. I would expand that to say that love which does not confront is not love. You may tell me, “I like you just the way you are,” but I hope there are some who will also say, “I love you too much to not point out this sin.” And ideally those same people will say, “Let me point you to the Savior and walk beside you as we both grow in faith and obedience to Him.” I know a few people like that, do you?
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).
© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Image is copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.
