You know, when I started this blog, I tried to be careful about what I wrote. I wanted to cater my posts to a wide variety of people, but lately that idea just isn't working for me. I once read that if you are going to have a successful blog, you need to write to an intended audience. There are so many good blogs out there related to health, nutrition, and all sorts of other fun things, but I'm just not the girl who is going to write about them. I don't know who reads my blog aside from the people who comment, and I think that most of those people profess to be Christians.
I've taken to calling myself a "Christ-follower" instead of a "Christian." Today, "Christian" seems to be synonymous with "American," "good person," or "someone who goes to church once in awhile and says they believe Jesus is the Son of God." Dude, even the demons believe that. It's about following Christ. It's about letting him rule you, be your master. I bet something inside you just rankled when you read that. My flesh still rears its ugly head at those words of Lordship.
I've been studying the book of Philippians with some friends and today I ran across this: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven.
Paul of Tarsus wrote this letter, and in those sentences he was talking about Christians who lived lives of worldly indulgence. He said they were living as enemies of the cross of Christ. If you've ever had an encounter with Jesus of any magnitude, there has to be a part of you that at least cringes at the thought of living as an enemy to the One who let His skin be ripped off for you. Living like you hate Him, because that's how you feel about your enemy, right? Enemies are hated, considered with condescension and derision.
If I was the one reading this blog, I would be all huffy by now, especially by the line "lives of worldly indulgence." My huffiness would be caused by the fact that it bothers me when people try to squeeze all the joy out of life by considering some things indulgent that I consider fun, and also by the fact that something within me twinges at those Scriptures above. So first of all, let me say this: I am all about enjoying life. I love chocolate, movies, cute shoes, vacation, novels, restaurants, and international travel. Am I about to condemn the blessings God has given to us, especially as Americans? No. What I'm about to do is expand on the qualities of a Christian who is living as an enemy to the cross, so that we can all know what it might look like in our own lives.
They are destined for destruction. Well, that one seems self-explanatory.
Their god is their stomach. Or, in some translations-- their god is their appetite. What are your appetites? Money? Possessions? Self? The question that I read in a commentary really got me on this one... it was, "who do you serve first?" When I held myself up against that question, it is apparent that often I do seek to serve myself first before thinking about anyone else, or even Christ. I can so easily make self my god.
Their glory is in their shame. I really like the poetic sound of that. But boiled down it means, "they brag about shameful things." I started off by thinking "well, 'shameful things' is relative." But it's not. There's a standard. It's set in Christ, and there's no way around it. We may wheedle our way out of following it now, but there will be an account.
Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. You know, sometimes life is really stressful. Bad things happen, there are inconveniences, there is heartache and offense and hurt. Sometimes life is great! There are things to look forward to, trips to take, dreams to realize. But you know what is a reality check? The fact that we are eternal beings and every single person we encounter is an eternal being... that our lives here are a flickering shadow of what is to come... that there will be an account and a judgment before the Lord... that there is a spiritual battle going on all around us, and we are citizens of the Kingdom of God and we are a part of that battle whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
If you are a Christian, Christ-follower, member of the Kingdom of God-- it's time to wake up. There is no more room for the apathy and complacency that has rooted itself so deeply within us. I say this all to myself, as well as to all of you.
The Holy Spirit has really been impressing upon me that we need to be prepared. We need to know the Word so that we might not be deceived. We need to pray. We need to intimately know Jesus, and learn to hear His voice.
Prepared for what? I don't know. He hasn't told me that part. Maybe within a few months of this post, it will be obvious. Maybe it will be years, or decades. It doesn't really matter. What matters is following Christ. To do that will cost everything. But it will be worth more than anything.
1 comment:
Thanks fr checking on the job hunt, I am starting somewhere new on Monday... I just wrote a post along much the same lines as this one, funny how that works.
I agree with your idea here and I wrestle with it all the time. My wife and I often talk about this as well. Is playing Madden 08 watching Iron Man ungodly? How do you balance the things you do that are solely for Christ and the things you do mostly for yourself? Any thoughts?
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