“The greatest single cause of atheism today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle. That’s what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Brennan Manning

This quote really hit me hard. We are all guilty of this. We are all hypocrites and Pharisees. We are so eager to throw rocks and judge. I know I’m guilty of this. I somehow forget that I’m in the same sin boat that all of us are in.

So what do we do to change this? The first step begins with realizing that we’ve walked fundamentally away from the mission that Christ began. We’ve built buildings to keep the good people in and the bad (undesirable) ones out. 

People in the world today see the lines we’ve drawn and realize that they’re on the other side of the fence. I remember how I used to feel when I was in Junior High. There was a cool crowd and the rest of us dregs. We were all looked down up and had our lower status constantly shoved in our faces. Sure there were kids that longed to be cool, but most of us just grew to resent the cool kids. That’s the message we’re giving the world today: “You’re not good enough.” And the world hates us for it (and I understand why).

Sure we preach Christ’s love but we don’t walk it out. We say one thing and do another. We can say “I love you” to someone but if we’re kicking him while we’re saying it - I don’t think he’ll get the point.  

So why do we act like this? Well, I think it’s because we all look for a place to be safe. Church looks safe and nice. The streets? Dirty and scary. We don’t live like God matters. Stay safe and pray he blesses us while we stay in our little boxes. But God doesn’t want us staying safe.

Sometimes I wonder, if Christ returned and dwelt among us, what the church’s reaction to Him?  What would his reaction be to the state of the church today? Would he produce fear and anger from the church leadership? Would they point out how he associates with the undesirablesand condemn him for it? Would they want nothing to do with Him? I believe that same treatment that Christ recieved from the church in the Gospels would mirror how he would be treated today (at least in North America). Am I wrong?

We live much like the Pharases. We do “good deeds” and follow the rules, but we live like God doesn’t exist. We don’t live lives like the men of Bible did. Following a wild God because we were compelled to. Becasue any existence otherwise couldn’t come close compete with it. We’ve become comfortable and decided that we’ll take the melancholy of the American Dream overshadows the call and mission of the Gospel (and Great Commission). Where is our passion for life? Do we believe Jesus when he said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Who’s living their lives to the full? Or at least who’s trying to?!?

Who believes that the power of Christ can change this word completely and without any of our help? If you believe that, then imagine that even though God doesn’t need us, he loves us and includes us in his Kindom and the advancement of it. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Matt 11:12). I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of that last verse. It makes me feel alive. It makes me want to be one of those forceful men laying hold of the kingdom of heaven.

If you belive any of this? If anything from this stirrs within you? Then make a decision here and now to start living this out. 

If you haven’t given your life over to Christ and are interested in changing your life forever, follow this link. If you have any questions or would like to talk about anything, please feel free to email me: sdelony@yd.org

This entry was posted on Monday, October 9th, 2006 at 6:38 am and is filed under Adam LaRoche, Blogroll, Brennan Manning, Christianity, Church, Dirty, Hypocracy, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Ministry, Quotes, Uncategorized, Wake up!, athesim, athiest, christian, christians, compassion, death, follower of Jesus, gospel, kindgom of heaven, leading the charge, life, missional, opinion, revival.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.