***WARNING: This blog contains content that could be offensive***
Before you read this blog, I want you to be prepared. There will be things you read in this blog that offend you. However, I want you to open your heart and ask yourself some honest, difficult questions. Such as:
“Have I become stagnant in my relationship with Christ?”
“Am I mistaking a life based on religious obligations for an authentic relationship with Jesus?”
“Am I offended because my life doesn’t mirror the life of a believer laid out in the Bible?”
“Am I just going through the motions?”
“Have I become so focused on what the church is doing wrong that I excuse myself from
actually BEING the church in my daily life?”
“Do I really understand what it means to TRULY walk with Christ?”
These are all REALLY tough questions, but nevertheless, they are ones that need to be answered in your heart. I was once there. There was a time in my life where I was living a lifestyle that I thought was pleasing to the Lord, but turned out to be a religious counterfeit of the life Jesus desired for me to live. I was striving to earn my salvation through my good works. Although I have never claimed to have a “works mentality”, that is exactly what I had become. Checking my deeds off my list (mentally and almost subconsciously of course) thinking I was living out the real gospel. I did good things. I went to church, shoot I even worked at a church. I didn’t drink alcohol, didn’t smoke, I wasn’t in any inappropriate relationships with men, I stayed inside the safe walls of my church – never leaving that shielded place to reach out to the lost. In fact, I even distanced myself from people who didn’t share my same lifestyle and was rarely, if ever, seen with someone who wasn’t a Christian. “The problems is, much of what we believe is often based more on comfort or our culture’s traditions than on the Bible.” (Francis Chan, Forgotten God). I used to believe that unless I worked at a church, I couldn’t really be used by God. I used to think that I had to walk the most rigid lines, do all the right things, and not get too close to the “worldly people”. I used to hold offense, refusing to forgive people and pretend it was ok because they had hurt me and they CLEARLY were not living for Christ. When all along, I was going against the commandments of God that asks us to choose forgiveness no matter what the circumstances. I was religious. I was judgmental, unable to relate to others and lukewarm. Once I finally admitted to myself that I was living the life of a Pharisee, a life completely contrary to the Word I read diligently, God began to open my eyes to what truly living out the gospel looks like.
The more God opened my eyes to what His desire for me as a believer really was, the more my life began to change. A desire to get out of the four walls of the church and out into the world grew in my heart until I could no longer contain myself – I left. I’ve been out in this world for nearly 9 months straight at this point and I have seen it all: the poorest of the poor in India, the young girls trapped in sex slavery in Thailand, the hungry orphans in the Philippines, those bound by false gods in Nepal – LOST. I’ve seen things that brought my eyes to tears and caused my heart to break. However, you want to know what has convicted me and pained my soul to the core the most? The Christians out here. Yep. The missionaries that give their lives, day in and day out, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are the most passionate, zealous, dedicated, and on fire followers of Christ I have ever met! They make me wonder if I am even saved! Their relentless hunger for Him convicts and challenges me to step up my game. They are the real deal – and they do it all for FREE! That’s right. No one sends them a paycheck for their “service” to the Lord. And they ask for nothing in return. That is CRAZY to me. I wouldn’t even consider working for an organization that wasn’t going to pay me! How backwards I had it.
We are required to follow the pattern laid out for us in the Bible. The disciples abandoned everything in order to spread His fame to the world. We are indebted to them for even having the gospel today. Sometimes I ask myself, “What if I would have been alive then? Would I have gone to prison for Jesus? Would I have given my life to make sure everyone heard?” We have such a different view of Christianity than Jesus does. For a long time the answer to that question was no. Most of us don’t even like sitting through a service that is longer than 2 hours once a week, let alone prison! People – the days of going to church and being a good person are OVER! David Platt says it best in Radical, “We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.” It is time to get off your ass and ACT! (There is literally no other way to say it!) Jesus didn’t die a bloody and horrific death for His followers to be comfortable and watch the world around die because we are too concerned with our OWN desires than the desires of our Father’s heart. We need a wake up call. We need God to give us a love strong enough to motivate courageous action! We need to move into radical obedience. We need to actually READ the Bible and DO exactly what it says. Caring for the widows and the orphans (James 1:27), loving our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31), forgiving those who hurt us no matter what (Matthew 6:14), submitting our lives to God as a sacrifice (Romans 12:1), spreading His story to the nations (Matthew 28:19-20) and sharing in the suffering of our sweet Savior (Philippians 3:10). We can no longer pretend these scriptures do not exist. We have to stop sitting around waiting for someone else to do it. There is NO
one else. We are it! We have the HOPE of the world inside us. And the lost people desperately need Christians to stop “playing church” and start LIVING out the gospel. “The price is certainly high for people who don’t know Christ and who live in a world where Christians shrink back from self-denying faith and settle into self-indulging faith. While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream instead of giving their lives to proclaiming the kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the Gospel remain in the dark” (David Platt, Radical).
So, you are in one of two places right now. You are highly offended that I used the word “ass” and am saying all these “extreme” statements or you are feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit moving your heart to change. If you are the latter, follow that leading. Ask Jesus right now how you can begin to LIVE out the gospel on a daily basis. Because the truth is, NOTHING in this life will ever matter unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made.
We get one life on this earth to make an impact for eternity – don’t waste it.
Recommended Reads:
Crazy Love, Francis Chan
Follow Me, David Platt & Francis Chan
Radical, David Platt
Risk is Right, John Piper
Compelled by Love, Heidi Baker
The Heavenly Man-Paul Hattaway
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