Comfortable Christianity

This was written last October by me as a personal reflection to God. What does true Christianity really look like? Is it just praying, reading your Bible and getting plugged into a church....or is there more to it than that?

WARNING: The first part of what I am going to share in this post is graphic. If you're easily squeamish, please use caution when reading it.

Jesus Freaks, a collection of stories of Christians persecuted for their faith by D.C. Talk and Voice of the Martyrs is a book I recently found myself getting drawn to. The faith of the Christians described in this book is amazing.

One story described a Christian named John Jue Han Ding, a man in China who was imprisoned for his faith. In hopes of getting him to renounce his faith, the guards had human waste dumped on his head and was forced to eat his food like a dog as food could only pass through his soiled lips. He was then put into a prison cell literally filled with human waste and other common criminals who were told they would only be released if this man would give into their demands. So as a result John had to bear the persecution of these criminals torturing him for days. Eventually the guards gave up and wound up releasing John. (271)

Another story described a man in England in the 1500's named Thomas Hauker who was sentenced to burn at the stake for his faith. A friend approached him and asked one simple favor of Thomas before he died. He basically asked Thomas for a sign if God's grace was actually true: if the pain was tolerable and his mind was at ease as he was burning at the stake if he could lift his hands above his head right before he died. When Thomas was brought to the stake, he didn't move as his skin charred and his fingers were burnt off. People thought he was dead until suddenly his enflamed hands raised and he clapped them, rejoicing in God's grace and goodness. People watching it cheered loudly. (144)

Yet another story described a congregation in Peru in 1991 that lost their pastor, church building and some members lost their houses one night to terrorists. Despite all that, the next night they still met in the middle of a muddy street to worship Jesus.

And now I ask this: Where is our faith?

We get too ashamed to speak up about Jesus to friends, too scared to reach out to strangers, and too attached to our material possessions. A majority of us Christians in America just consume and become gluttons of the culture, isolating ourselves to Christian experiences and only hanging out with Christian friends expecting that the only people who are meant to do outreach to their local community are the pastors of their church, televangelists, and full-time missionaries. Except that Jesus called EVERYONE to go out there get uncomfortable and make disciples. We Christians can get too caught up in denominational and cultural inside jokes, church culture gossip, critique of Christian pastors, critique of Christian albums, purchasing of Christian t-shirts, political agendas, and consuming Christian music that at times we can turn a blind eye to the lost and dying world around us. No wonder when one approaches an average person on the street and asks them what they think of Christians and the church they reply with words like, "arrogant, narrow-minded, hypocrites," etc.

A majority of we Christians in America today can also get so consumed by food, technology, media, celebrity gossip, social networking and the like that we never even give Jesus a half hour a day of alone time with Him, just seeking His face. We'd rather indulge in our stuff, make a false idol out of the money we make and worship it by attempting to make more of it.

We Christians can even get too caught up in studying, apologetics, theology, seminary, historical background and other facts about Jesus and the Bible, but as we are sitting in a classroom getting too caught up in studying commentaries, the temptation is to turn Jesus into a series of facts instead of a loving God who desires to be with us. Could it be possible to forsake God's face for Greek and Hebrew Lexicon studies? As the Bible and its facts are so easily available, we American Christians can fall into the trap of only loving Jesus with our mind and ignore the heart, soul and might parts.

In case you didn't notice, I used the word "we" a lot because I am here too. I am comfortable. I love fellowship with Christians, I love Christian culture, I love studying God's Word and I love church on a Sunday morning, which all are amazing things, but lately I have realized that I have gotten too comfortable with them and have forsaken the God I love and His commandments. I love time alone with Jesus, but only on my terms. I fast, but only if I can cheat every once in awhile. I can study the Bible sometimes and forget to actually pray over what I read in hopes of actually applying what it says to my life. I can read verses like, "Blessed are the poor," and avoid a bum on the street and could care less about starving orphan-slaves in third world countries. I can read verses like, "Make disciples" and can too easily give up on people who God put on my heart to do just that.

This doesn't sound like a guy who is in ministry. Don't people in ministry have it all together? No, actually we don't. Sometimes we can act like we do though, that's for sure.

I don't want to be one of those people who critiques these things and does nothing about it. The temptation of writing blogs like this is that you can write about issues like this, get "Yay's" and "Amen's" from friends and then not do jack squat about it. I want to go out there and do something.

GOD HELP ME DO SOMETHING!

In Jesus' name, Amen.

What are you willing to do to get uncomfortable for Jesus? Fast? Pray? Give stuff away? What does it look like?

What is Heaven without Jesus?

The Way of the Master ministry is very well-known for its evangelizing techniques. One of the main things they start off with is asking people whether or not they think they're a good person. Then they ask this: "Do you think you're good enough to go to Heaven?"

Now, I am not downplaying what The Way of the Master does. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't even know where to start with witnessing to others about Christ. However can it be possible to focus too much on Heaven and not on the God behind Heaven?

The Bible is totally all about being close and intimate with God. He is holy and sovereign and good. He is also relational, as it is even shown in the three separate persons whom He is composed of. They are all individuals, but all work and commune harmoniously together.

God desires a relationship with us. And it is not because God needs a relationship with us. He doesn't need us, especially after we have sinned and screwed up so many times against Him. However God wants to be with us. That is why He sent His Son to die for us. Nahum 1:2 says, "The LORD is a jealous and avenging God" This does not mean that God is an obsessive, abusive control freak. This is especially the case when you look at the context of this verse. What this verse is saying is that God is jealous for our affection and will do absolutely anything to obtain it. This is almost like a man seeking the affection for another woman as his bride. He will do absolutely anything he can to win her affection: buy her dinner, get her flowers, buy a $3,000 engagement ring, etc. The same goes with God. His jealousy also went as far as sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to provide that way to Him. He did so by His death. He died and bore the wrath of God. He took that vengaence that God should rightly have against us. He took it and through Him we are set free from our sins.

There is more to Christ's selfless sacrifice than just our sins being wiped away. We are now free to seek God no matter where we are. We could be in a church service lifting our hands, or we could be at home eating breakfast in a bathrobe with morning breath and a bedhead. God meets us where we are at. He hangs out with us, He encourages us, He just plain shows affection to us.

Have you ever felt the warm embrace of God? I have. There was one time a few weeks ago when I woke up in the middle of the night really distressed. I was worried about a lot of things concerning money and these next few months. I knew it was wrong and confessed it to God in tears. As I was weeping, I felt God's warm embrace and His peace all around me. I felt warmth like no blanket or heating system has ever given me before. All my muscles relaxed and I felt peace. This was God's peace. I believe He was holding me and hugging me.

So will Heaven be nice? Absolutely. But Heaven won't be nice because of tricked out streets of gold, seeing old friends long gone and not having to deal with the burdens of this sinful world. Heaven will be nice because of Jesus Christ! I'll be able to see Him face to face! I'll be able to walk with Him, talk with Him, ask Him questions, and did I mention WORSHIP HIM?! I'll be seeing that beautiful throne like what John describes in Revelation as Jesus sits upon it. Not only that but I can freely approach that throne without fear of rejection or anything like that because Jesus Christ has redeemed me.

So going to Heaven is not just about comfort. It is about Jesus Christ. If you think Jesus Christ is not in Heaven, then you are not thinking about Heaven.

"Whom have I in Heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
-Psalm 73:25-26