Shia Labeouf And The Problem With “Christians”

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”- 1 Samuel 16:7

If you haven’t heard, Shia Labeouf has decided to follow Christ. The Transformers star shared recently in Interview Magazine (http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/shia-labeouf#_) that he had become a Christian while filming FURY.

In the film, he plays a character that apparently has a connection with faith, so much so that his nickname is “Bible”. What an awesome story right?!

Well, to some, it’s not!

What? Why wouldn’t we celebrate the fact that another one of God’s lost sheep had come back to the flock? Why wouldn’t we celebrate the fact that there is a party in heaven for the son returning home?

The answer…Shia cussed!

That’s right! He cussed during his interview sharing “I became a Christian man, and not in a blanking blankit way—in a very real way” (italics and b-words are added and used to protect your eyes and ears from realness).

There are many “Christians” that are up in arms questioning whether or not he really made a decision based on those swear words. They struggle thinking that if he made a real decision, then his words would have been cleaner.

Where does this thinking come from?

As Christians, we need to remember that we will not be perfect until we are with Christ. We are still broken people growing in depth during our journey with Christ.

What if I told you, that after I became a Christian at the age of 16, I was still smoking weed and participating in some other activities that were unhealthy, until I was 18? Would you doubt that I made a decision for Christ?

Or, what if I said, I stubbed my toe yesterday and the “SH” word came out of my mouth? Would you question my relationship with Christ?

I would hope not! I am human. I am flawed. I have specks in my eye just like all of us. Even Peter had his flaws after watching Christ hang out with Gentiles and “sinners”. It took an image of  animals in a picnic blanket (10:9-22) to get him to realize he could be around Gentiles and others. He was holding on to his old ways before Christ did some extra work.

We all have extra work done. God is not finished with us. Some of us still hold on to racist ideas, adulterous tendencies, rough language, lying, etc. We cannot expect a new person to the faith to instantly change.

Life is a journey and all of us are on one. Christians should celebrate the new addition to the body and not question the heart if they don’t do things the way we think they should.

In fact, if we read the article further, you see beyond the swearing and it looks like Shia got it, when he shares, “I could have just said the prayers that were on the page. But it was a real thing that really saved me. And you can't identify unless you're really going through it. It's a full-blown exchange of heart, a surrender of control.”

Yeah, I think he gets it, maybe better than some “Christians” do.