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4/22/2004
The Cheap Gospel
Every now and then I have those days where I just want to throw my hands up and utter some profane language. There are so many time indicators in the media that would point people towards making some serious life decisions. Today was one. Our premier member of the Jackson 5 was indicted today for child molestation. Man I'm sad. Talk about a family with some serious identity issues. I'll be the first to admit I've had fun at the Jackson family's expense. However, anyone who can read off the first line of the vision test can see that something is not right about that entire family. And let's not fool ourselves folks, Dr. Phil ain't gonna cut it. Neither is the cushy Christianity that runs so rampantly throughout the entertainment industry. You know, that belief that it's okay to do "A" and still thank God and say you're a Christian even if "A" is directly in opposition to God. You know, relative Christianity.
Ghandi stated a very powerful truth when he said (paraphrased), "The biggest enemy of Christianity is not other religions. The real enemy is those who say they are Christian but live a life contrary to that reality". As much as I disagree with some Ghandi's philosophy, I have to co-sign on that statement, and then hold up a mirror immediately thereafter. It often amazes me that America calls itself a Christian nation. Foundationally, perhaps. Historically, perhaps. On paper, perhaps. By and large, America has got some serious explaining to do about keeping that title in all honesty. Throughout the months following the greatest attack most people my age had ever seen against America, "God Bless America" bumper stickers were rampant. If you don't have the words to that song memorized by now, then you must have been in a coma or something because not since Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" has a song been so over-played in all of America. My best friend and I had some plans in the works to market some "America Bless God" stickers, but alas, we didn't move fast enough and the idea was long snatched up and somebody made a nice profit off that one. Money aside, America really needed to bless God. See, asking God to bless us, that's easy. Anyone can do that. That's why the kindergarten reading-level book The Prayer of Jabez flew off the shelves nationwide. I highly doubt that if Bruce Wilkinson wrote a book called, "The Prayer of Repentance" or "The Prayer of Sacrifice" it would be nearly as popular.
The face of Christianity is under intense scrutiny. The current battle is not really for the world and those that don't know God (although it should be). The battle is for revelation of the truth of the total reality of the Gospel. No half-steppin'. Are you in or are you out? There is something quite unsettling about anything lukewarm. Have you ever pulled your twice-warmed leftovers out of the microwave, taken a bite, only to find out that while the outside is hot, the center is well, warm and tastes pretty disgusting. I can't even imagine how God feels. So many of us straddle a foggy line. On one side of that line is evil, the other side is righteousness, the middle is morality. Somehow, morality gets confused with righteousness and that's where the mix-up begins. Morality is a hard word to define. There's really no standard from one sphere to another. What's moral to me, may not be moral to you. Once, in having a conversation with a co-worker about another friend, she mentioned to me, "Oh you'd love to meet her, she's got great ethics!" I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean except maybe that she doesn't lie, cheat, steal, and she picks up after herself. So maybe those are things we all can agree on. But what's the definition of stealing? Does downloading a $499 copy of Adobe Photoshop via a filesharing program free of charge count? What about lying on your taxes? What about taking extended breaks on the clock? We often fall short when we allow morality to be determined by popular opinion and good conscience. Yet, we find these days, so many Christians are on the "choose-your-own-adventure" path in life. What we end up with is a hodgepodge of thoughts, belief systems, pet doctrines and ideosyncratic methodical Christianity.
I reject this cheap Christianity. This ideology that following Christ doesn't cost us something. I can honestly say there have been times in my walk when it would have been ten times easier to just sin. I call that the "woe is me Job syndrome". The reality is, following Christ costs us everything, and some. The even harsher reality is we don't have much legroom to complain about that fact. But instead, we'd rather straddle the line for the sake of "comfort". I suppose that's the curse of this nation. Comfort and instant gratification. While we're dwelling in our "Christian easychairs", there are people literally dying slow and painful deaths of low self-esteem, self-hatred, oppression, depression, and hurt. I'm not really sure what my goal is for saying all this. All I know is, we can't afford to make this thing look cheap. Too many people have bought into the "cheap" lie and they're struggling in a world that lacks authenticity and deliverence. Man we've got work to do. This thing is no joke.
posted by ambra at 4/22/2004 04:15:24 PM | link to this entry |
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