The Complacent Christian

At what point does a belief become a command, an action and eventually a lifestyle?  It seems that often times those who commit their lives to the highest standards are those who find contentment in their solitude.  The christian, for example, claims to hold the sole reason and purpose for life.  But why not share that reason?  Why not live out that purpose?   To know something so valuable and vital and yet abstain from proclaiming it is a tragedy.  But that is not to say that the very passionate proclamation of the thing is sufficient.  In Francis Chan's book Crazy Love, he makes this convicting statement in reference to a prominent business man who gave up everything to become a pastor:

"When people make changes in their lives like this, it carries greater impact than when they merely make impassioned declarations. The world needs christians who don't tolerate the complacency of their own lives."

It is not enough to simply claim Christianity.  Everyday the christian is faced with the decision to tell others about their God or live quarantined, cut off and removed from society with no chance of interaction.  Sadly, many today do not attempt to reach beyond the scope of the comfortable, the familiar.  I am guilty.  I am a christian who has been more than content, I regrettably say even happily chosen, to remain comfortable.  That is not what God has asked of me.  As my friend Traci Ferguson said tonight "I am a Christian because I am a sinner and Jesus Christ is my Savior."  That is what I am called to share and called to live out everyday, not my pride in this gift of life, or a hoarding selfish attitude.  Because that is what I am if I do not tell others His name; a selfish, spoiled child who refused to share what has been given to me, undeservingly, at no cost of my own.  That is where my belief becomes a command, and that command fosters an action that develops into a lifestyle.  I have life because one man dared to do what no other could, because God gave up His only son to die a sinners death, to be torn, beaten, broken, bruised, and nailed to a cross baring my transgressions, and those of His people.  It is because of this that I have been commanded to "go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19)."  That command does not leave room for me or any other Christian to settle into our lives, easy and comfortable, unwilling to tell others the name of our Father.  Instead it requires that we go beyond the familiar and share, in love, the life we have been given, and make God known through all  the earth.  The lifestyle of a christian should not be self-seeking, introverted, empty and complacent, but instead laced with humility as we proclaim the power, majesty, mercy, grace, and love of God.  

If left to merely preaching the good news I would fall short.  I would find myself once again fervently proclaiming Christ with my words, but if my actions do not also fervently proclaim Him as well than it is an empty zeal indeed.  By the grace of God, and his Spirit working in me, every step that I take and every gesture I make must reaffirm what the movement of my lips teach.  I can only do this by kneeling before my God every day, humbled by my sin and His sacrifice, willing to live obediently, and constantly relying on His strength alone to accomplish what He has commanded. 

Empty Faith

My soul may cry out to you, and my lips be brimming with words of praise

But what is that without feet willing to spread your name

Or hands weathered and worn from serving the weak

And arms wrapped around those with dampened cheeks

It is an empty and weightless faith indeed

If actions of love and obedience do not proceed

It is not the power, knowledge, or beauty of the rhetoric I boast

But the humbled services whispered that speak the most

You have not called me to a life of condescending pride

But promised as your child I’ll have to take up my cross with every stride

My happiness and satisfaction is not derived from this earth

But instead you have given joy and contentment in a new birth

So with every morning light I vow to live for your name

God I pray I would not let the sun set on another day

That I failed to live for your glory and ceaseless praise