my church is not full of hypocrites

Something my pastor said today that I really identified with:

A lot of non-Christians expect that Christians should be 'morally superior' people. After all, if their God is so good and teaches His disciples to do good, why doesn't he make them all honest, upright people who don't cheat, lie, or steal, and are loyal friends, faithful spouses, filial children. And perhaps a bit more generous and less prone to gossip... :P Of course this isn't the case and Christianity (and perhaps religion in general) gets a bad rep for not being a stronger moral influence ("He goes to church and he did THAT??").

Truth is, we're just humans like everyone else, with the normal slew of problems, worries, emotions. The only difference: we choose to believe that the Son of God has paid a great price for our sins past, present and future. That doctrine of God's love is supposed to make us want to and strive to become more like Him (i.e. recognising the love of God is primary, the love of virtue is merely a consequence). Only too often, the spirit is willing but faith is weak!

Pastor likened us to butterflies in cocoons - the glory of Christ is indeed real but temporarily under wraps of our weak, corruptible human forms. So don't be surprised that sometimes Christians react the same way as everyone else would to a situation. We're work in progress!