Let me ask a question. What does it really mean to be a Christian? Because if it means we are 'good people', go to church, read our Bibles regularly, pray regularly, and share our faith with others... we are MISERABLY FAILING.
Yes you heard me right... MISERABLY FAILING! Now I might add that not all are, but from the many 'Christians' I know, interact, hear and see there is only a small handful that do that, and there is even a smaller handful who do more then just the 'required steps to being a Christian'.
I look at us Christians who say, "We need to walk in the footsteps of Christ" and pretty much walk in the complete opposite direction. You see reading your Bible, praying, and going to Church on Sunday, that my friends is the BARE MINIMUM of what makes us Christian, that should just be assumed in a Christian, that's the pre-programing already set in the coding of Christianity.
So may I ask, WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN TO BE A CHRISTIAN.
Recently I have been in some conversations with individuals who are tired, frustrated and fed up with the kind of 'Christianity' that seems to be the norm of today's Christianity. They look at the people around them and see fakes, liers, and falling shorts. Oh yeah and that 75% that leaves the church when they go off to University, a lot of those people are my friends, and believe me when I say it's not because they listened to some new age philosopher and don't believe in God anymore, nope not one bit. For the majority of them, they have noticed the indifference between 'Christianity' and the Bible and are done with 'Christianity' but not the Bible. Unfortunately I would go as far as saying even those people cannot call themselves true 'Christians'...why? BECAUSE THEY LEFT.
You see this is the frustration my friends and I have, we see the issues being addressed but we see either ignorance or walking away happening. I am sorry to inform you but if there is something broken, YOU NEED TO ADDRESS, ASSESS AND DEAL WITH THE ISSUE. Not ignore it or walk away from it.
So here is what I am saying, if you are a 'Christian' and you barely read your Bible, you pray over meals and sometimes when the going gets tough, you believe in a divine being, and you go to Church on Sundays. YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. And if you call yourself a 'Christian' and you even do all that stuff YOU STILL ARE DOING IT WRONG.
"Wait?! What do you mean Nathan? Both are wrong? But how?"
Here's how, even if you are doing all those things, those are just the foundation of a whole Kingdom, the starting blocks for a building to be built upon! Those are natural reactions, that yes, time and discipline needs to be put into, but also those are just the start of what it means to being a Christian.
Take John the Baptist for example. This guy seems to be a big deal at the beginning of pretty much all the Gospels. Now something you need to understand about John, the dude was the son of a Priest, and not just any priest but a Jewish, Jerusalem, Lamb sacrificing, Scapegoat making, Torah preaching, Holy of Holy walking into kind of Priest. Basically the dudes dad was a big deal, and had the means to live like he was a big deal as well.
That gives you a bit of a background on John. But when you read about John you notice something. He didn't live in pleasure, he didn't following in his father's career path... he in fact lived very simply. He chose a life of complete separation from society, he had long hair, and a long beard, probably didn't smell too great, not bad, but not great either, he wore animal skins, not cloth, or silk, he ate dried bugs and bees honey. His day job became his life job of preaching and dunking people who felt bad about their decisions in a dirty body of water. The dude was in fact kind of weird... well really weird. He yelled and warned of a king to come who would bring a kingdom down to earth from Heaven. He yelled so loud and was so weird that the priest's and Jewish leaders went to see what all his yelling and warning was about.
This guy was in any definition a RADICAL. Now not a weirdo, hypocritical, judgmental, "your going to burn in hell for being a faggot" radical. But a radical in the sense that he DEVOTED HIS ENTIRE EXISTENCE TO TELLING OTHERS ABOUT JESUS' COMING.
Now I sit back and read that at the beginning of the Gospels and say to myself... "Am I doing that? Am I devoting all I have, all I am, socially, emotionally, spiritually, economically, culturally, financially, spatially, and mentally, to God and to His proclamation upon this earth?" If the answer is no then I either A) need to drop out of the whole 'Christian' thing and continue living my normal life, or B) I NEED TO START BEING RADICAL IN THE JOHN THE BAPTIST WAY.
"But Nathan, people will stare, they will think your 'different', you will be yelled at, screamed at, hated, laughed at, you will loose friends, maybe family, you are just taking it way to seriously"
Am I though? and really are you so worried that you will loose your social life that you wont commit all to God? Do you realize what you are saying now, especially if you are a Christian? You essentially are saying the Bible is false. Yes I just accused you of not submitting to the Authority of Scripture... and here is why:
Able died for giving all to God, Noah was laughed at and an outcast for giving all to God, Abraham left his family to give all to God, Issac was almost sacrificed for giving all to God, Jacob lost his wife by giving all to God, Joseph was left for dead and sold into slavery by giving his all for God, Moses lost his political, social, financial, economical, and family status for giving his all to God, Joshua wondered in the desert for 40 years and lead a complaining, doubting and disobedient people for giving his all to God, Gideon almost lost his life for giving his all to God, Samson lost his hair and eyes and life for giving his all to God, David gave up his security and was made a international outlaw for giving his all to God, Jeremiah lost his nation for giving his all to God, Nehemiah, Ezra, and Zechariah put everything they had on the line for God, Shadrack, Mecshack and Abednigo (totally spelt those wrong) were thrown into a furnace that killed the men who stood beside it for giving their all to God, Daniel was given to the licking lips of Lions and accused of National treason for giving his all to God, John the Baptist gave up his wealthy happy life for giving his all to God, Peter left his home and reputation and business to give it all to God, Paul left his Religious status, and economical power to give it all to God. And those are only the big names, there are COUNTLESS PEOPLE in the Bible who gave IT ALL UP FOR GOD. WHO WERE RADICALS.
"Yeah but Nathan that's the Bible, those people were different"
UM HOW? You show me one thing that made them any different then you are? They prayed more? SO CAN YOU! They knew Jesus? Did you know it took the disciples to realize who Jesus was 40 days after he died! THEY WERE NORMAL PEOPLE.
The world has changed economically, socially and religiously by normal everyday people, JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! who simply said, "I am giving it all to God" and they changed the world. They reformed the church, they traveled across America bring people to God, they wrote books and started organizations that defended the faith and brought millions to spiritual freedom. NORMAL PEOPLE! CHRISTIANS, not 'Christians', but CHRISTIANS!
We should be the kind of people that others look at and ask, "WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THEM", not by what we say, not even by what we do, but by WHO WE ARE! That we look, smell, and show that we are Christians, that the minute we walk into the room, get onto the bus, step on the subway, pass by on the street, drive past in our car... PEOPLE GO, "THERE IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THEM, AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT!?"
Yes you will be laughed at, rejected, spat, mad fun off, pushed away, BUT SO WHAT?! Jesus died on a cross, NAKED, in front of EVERYONE! Crucifixion was so humiliating Roman Law said if you were a citizen you weren't aloud to be crucified no matter what horrible, inhuman crime you committed! Paul was stoned, imprisoned, and left to die in a ship wreck, all the disciples except for John were killed! those are only 14 people out of THE COUNTLESS, who gave their all to God and were spat out by this world... and you are worried about loosing some friends and you social life?
What does it mean to be a true Christian, really? Are you one? If not, what are you going to do?
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