So what cross are you carrying for Christ?
In the west, where it is so easy to be a Christian, most of us look blankly at the idea, surprised that there might be such a thing. Yet, Jesus warned, over and over again that to follow Him would bring suffering, persecution, that some would die for their faith. And in some parts of the world today...people do. I am always humbled and amazed when reading the stories in Voices of the Martyrs, or Gospel for Asia...where people are harassed, disowned, imprisoned, tortured or killed all for their belief in Christ. And what humbles me the most is that they, the believers, think their cost to believe in Christ is cheap...for they have their eyes set, not on earth, but Heaven.
We in the west get awfully cranky when a political decision doesn't go our way, or a store posts Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, or a tv show makes fun of Christians. We organize boycotts, and the talking heads on tv scream about how Christian rights in America are being stripped away, and the social networks twitter and post about how bad our neighbors are for not going to our Church. And how much filth there is on tv, and by the way, did you watch the latest episode of ....
We need to wake up. Yes, there are elements in our country that aren't as friendly to Christians as we would like them to be...but we can still shop wherever we want, we can go to services, we can post our beliefs on the net and in books, on tv and radio. If we don't like what a show says about us, or if it mocks our faith, we can turn the channel, and find a dozen Christian stations on cable tv. We have it so easy here to be a Christian, that even though most of us say we are followers of Christ...we aren't. It's just a label, membership into an acceptable club, a political action group, or just the thing to do. We aren't carrying a cross, we aren't doing the work. We're not on fire, heck, most American Christians aren't even smoldering.
Because if we were...if we as a nation were truly followers of Christ...there would be no need for government social programs...WE would feed the poor, shelter them and help them up to a better life. There would be no smut on tv, because we would not watch it, and therefore the revenues would go away and the shows would go away. Our country would not be vastly polluted, because we would take care of God's creation. Our country would not have a 50% divorce rate (or close enough to it) because people would mean their marriage vows, work things out, stick with it and become strong family units. There would not be domestic abuse, for husbands would value their wives as Jesus does His Church, and wives would love and cherish their husbands, not belittle them or emasculate them. Our children would not be killing themselves out of despair and confusion. Our faith would be a faith in action, in love, in charity, in help, in compassion.
But if you read the Bible...you know that such a perfect country, or world, will not come until Christ comes again. That humans are too selfish and prideful and judgmental to live in that kind of peace. That within the larger scope of those claiming to be Christian, that most will be of the apostasy, not the true remnant that really follow Christ.
Are you one of the remnant? The beloved chosen few of God? The ones that don't follow the pack, either the secular world we live in, or the pseudo-Christian majority in our country and world that has corrupted our faith and image. When you see someone in need, do you help them, even if they're drunk or high, or of another faith, or of a sexual orientation you don't agree with? Because Jesus says you should. Do you pray, not hate, those who don't follow Christ's path? Because Jesus says you should. Can you be marked different than even the "normal American christian" because of your love and service to the downtrodden? Because Jesus says you should be.
It's hard to be different...we all want to blend in. But the Bible calls us to be apart of the World...
"James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
1 John 2:25 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Are you set apart from this world? Do people see you and see the love of God within you? Does your love of God translate into compassion for the downtrodden, the weak, the poor, the lost?
In America, in the western world...I think our cross is to break away from the norm, the pack, and stand apart for God. Do not stand with those who claim to be christian, yet teach hate. Do not stand with those who claim to be christian, yet teach not the Word of God. Do not stand with the secular world when it deviates from the teachings of God. It is hard to be apart, it is hard to be different, for you will lose opportunities, you will lose some friends and alienate some family members...who just "don't get it." They will question your faith, and therefore question you. And that is never easy.
But will you carry a cross for Jesus, or go your own way?
No comments:
Post a Comment