"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless." (The Message)On a scale of "cold" to "hot", with "cold" being "never heard of Jesus" and "hot" being "on fire for Jesus", the people He's talking about are on the middle ground. A dangerous place to be. These people worship religion. Being raised in the church, I find the practice of "worshipping worship" frighteningly easy to slip into. It's like those big chocolate easter bunnies. It looks good and pretty on the outside, but it's hollow on the inside. From experience, you can live this way unquestioned and unchallenged!
I know a handful people who are authentic in their faith, and they are the best role models I have. My dad is the first and foremost. He has taught me to love Christ with a different kind of love than usual. As the group DC Talk once sang "Luv is a Verb". See, dad doesn't go to church on sunday morning. He goes to jail. He's gone to there to preach every Sunday morning, unless out of town, for 42 years straight. He doesn't train other people to do it, he doesn't take in cameras, and he'll never talk about it unless asked. He isn't recognized by our church, or by the jail, as a chaplain. But he doesn't want recognition, he wants action. Every sunday he goes in there he leads scores of people to faith in the Saviour. That's all he needs to know. He has no interest in reward from anyone but Christ Himself. This is truly authenticity.
Another authentic Christian that I hold in high regard is a man named James. James may be best described as a wanderer. He reminds me of the 70 that Jesus sent out to do his work with nothing but the shoes on their feet and the clothes on their back. James lives with the destitute, and shares Jesus' love with them. He has no real base, but goes where he feels the Lord wants him to. This attitude is so radical! A man who values the souls of homeless dirty people more than he does his own comforts? This surely is not politically correct, but how politically correct are we supposed to be? We are called to be like Christ and as I recall, Christ called the leaders of the ruling class of Jerusalem a "den of snakes" and "of your father the devil". Are we supposed to be content as practicing church-goers, or are we supposed to mirror the life of Christ as closely as possible? Not all are called to the wandering lifestyle, but I would wager that there are many people who are called to, that brush off the urge because they're scared of doing something so different from the norm. However, as my pal Dave Ramsey says, "Normal is broke."
So are we called to be complacent? Obviously, no. But when you give it some thought, you might realize how complacent you've become, how manual your time with God is, how little you think about furthering the church, and how little you pray. I Challenge you to strive for an old fashioned, honest to goodness, relationship with Christ. This will make you happier than any church service can.
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