I Am Not My Brother’s Mistake

Happy Wednesday! 

I want to start something new today.

A little series about Christianity. Not the kind where I come here pretending I have everything figured out, but the kind where I can pour out my heart, share some things I have experienced, and hopefully hear from you too.

So please, talk to me in the comments. Tell me what you think. Tell me if you have experienced something similar. And if something I share speaks to you, share it with someone who may need it too. One good turn deserves another. 

Let me start with something I have been thinking about.

Have you ever been held responsible for something simply because another Christian did it?

Someone who claims to follow Christ makes a terrible decision, and suddenly Christianity is on trial.

“See? That’s what Christians do.”

“Sebi i told you, they think they are better than everyone.”

“Christians are hypocrites.”

And somehow, you’re just standing there like…

“But what did I do?” 

Stray bullet. Right in the chest.

I have seen this happen so many times. Someone who is known publicly as a Christian falls, makes a mistake, gets exposed, or simply behaves badly, and suddenly millions of people have something to say about every Christian they have ever met.

And I understand why people are hurt.

Christians are not perfect. We make mistakes. We fail. Sometimes we disappoint people terribly. And when someone who openly represents Christ does something wrong, it can genuinely hurt people’s perception of Christianity.

But here is what I have also learned:

Someone else’s failure does not have to become the definition of my faith.

I cannot stop being a Christian because another Christian disappointed you.

I cannot stop pursuing God because someone who claimed to know God hurt you.

And I certainly cannot carry the shame of something I did not do.

At the end of the day, I have to answer for my own walk with God.

I have to ask myself: Am I loving people? Am I forgiving? Am I honest? Am I growing? Am I allowing God to correct me? Am I becoming more like Christ?

Because it is very easy to spend so much time looking at how other Christians are behaving that we forget to examine ourselves.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1:

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

My race is my race.

Your race is your race.

And honestly, I have enough work to do on myself without trying to carry everybody else’s mistakes on my head. 

Jesus Himself was rejected, mocked, misunderstood, and judged by people who did not believe in Him. So if I decide to follow Christ, why would I expect everyone to understand me?

I am still learning.

I am still growing.

I am still making mistakes.

But I am also still choosing God.

I am building my relationship with Him one day at a time. I am learning what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth. I am trying to live a life that reflects what I believe.

And no, I will not stop because someone else fell.

If anything, I pray that when I see another Christian stumble, instead of joining the crowd to mock them, I remember that they are human too.

We can hold people accountable without becoming cruel.

We can acknowledge someone’s wrong without using their failure as an excuse to reject God.

And we can choose to keep running our own race.

So this is where I want to begin this series.

There are so many conversations I want us to have about Christianity, faith, church, judgment, hypocrisy, forgiveness, growing with God, and the things nobody really talks about.

I don’t have all the answers.

But I have experiences, questions, lessons, and a heart that genuinely wants to know God better.

And maybe, somewhere along the way, we can learn from one another too.

Until next time,

keep running your race. 

Catch me on the next one.