Where is the passion among followers of Jesus today? Where is the urgency of knowing the scores of people we associate with daily are doomed to spend eternity in Hell, forever separated from their Creator? We say we love Jesus and claim He is Lord of our life, but where is the evidence? By my observation, most Christians today are focused more on their own success and retirement plans than they are on the starving masses, enslaved children, and desperate lost souls in the world.
Everything is assumed to be someone else’s problem. We’ll leave those things to the professionals and their organizations. All the while, it is we who are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, a directive we conveniently ignore.
Every day I battle to choose whether I will be the person Christ created me to be or succumb to the siren song of society. It’s not easy to live a countercultural life. It’s incredibly difficult and something none of us could ever do if not for the help and power of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. Know this though, the power of the living God within in you provides more than enough resolve and ability to live life according to His plan rather than our own. Pathetically, we refuse to call on the power available to us. We’d rather play it safe and live a comfortable, and ordinary life.
In what world does safe, comfortable and ordinary begin to describe the life lived by Jesus? How then can we claim to follow Him when living lives entrenched in luxury and security? How is every Christian not repulsed and horrified by the contradiction of their lives? This is serious stuff here. We’re not talking about opinions and flights of fancy. We are dealing with eternity. We’re dealing with the only thing that actually matters. If we believe Jesus is who He says He is, then we must believe He is the only way. His ways must become our ways. So, why haven’t His commands and teachings taken hold in our lives?
While we love the idea of Jesus and Heaven, the truth is we love our lives on this earth more. The proof is in the way we spend our time and money, how we treat friends, family, and strangers, and in the urgency with which we live our day to day lives. Jesus said if we loved Him we would do the things He did (John 14:15). Are we doing that? Are we living the way He lived?
One day you are going to die. One day this earth will be judged. One day Jesus will return. What if any of those things happened today? Would you be ready? Could you honestly claim you had lived your life fully devoted to Him no matter the cost and no matter the pain? Could I? But this is what Jesus has called each of us to; this is the life He created you to live. How much longer are we going to pretend we love Jesus? How much longer are we going to deceive ourselves into thinking our lives are devoted to Him? Time is running out and the consequences are disastrous and deadly.