For those of you who have spent time with Believers in other countries (especially countries of oppression or starvation) you might be able to understand this on a different level:
Our Church:
We go to Church on sunday, maybe a Bible study or two during the week, and sometimes on a saturday night if we are offered that convenience. We try our best to be "good Christians" and do something for the community occasionally whether it be volunteering at a homeless shelter for a day, keeping a smile on our face, praying for blessings and safety throughout our day, and maybe helping out with a VBS if that is what God "calls" us to do. This is the life of the average Christian American. A happy-go-lucky, 'blessed life' full of plenty of money, decently nice cars, Jesus t-shirts, fun church camps, and a pat on the back for our tithe of 10%; after all that is what is taught in the Bible, correct? How many times have you heard the "We MUST go to church weekly to re-charge our spiritual batteries" illistration or some version of it. We go to Church services and are convicted by a pastor trying his best to reach a very quiet group of people. We go to the alter or kneel at our chairs after the pastor tells us we need to look into our hearts to find our faults. We ask God to forgive us. We feel refreshed. We say goodbye to all of our "Godly" friends and leave. The Church door shuts behind us and now our week begins, fresh and sinless. We drive to work, park our vehicles, and turn our head away from three homeless people we walk past on our way to the office, after all we don't have time to get them food and they are just going to buy drugs with our precious money, aren't they? We wrap our minds around our work (or daily activity) during the day, we come home thinking about our dinner or how Timmy's basketball practice went, sit down with our beloved spouse and watch the news to catch up on all of the crazy events going on in our world so we might not be out of the loop when an event is topic of conversation, we lay our heads down in our comfortable beds and say a few quick words to God thanking Him for all of our blessings before we fall asleep.
Does this sound like a life living the greatest commands of Christ, to "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul AND mind" or His second commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself"?
I have been in places of worship in other parts of the world where it is so hot you can barely breath, where Christians meet on a city dump where they live in an open area with no roof or building. I have worshipped in places where if the name of "Jesus" is heard too loudly, the people could risk imprisonment. I have been witness to areas where people literally pull at your arms and clothes to tell them more about Christ. Places where even the children are full of joyful tears as they sing songs about Jesus Christ, because they know that without Him, they would have starved to death on the streets. These people all have one thing in common; they sing praises with joyful hearts pouring out to their Lord who has saved them from damnation after this short time here on earth and shown them Grace (A word we love to overuse in our American church) giving them Life to Love their Father. These people have HUGE smiles, jump around dancing and laughing, and cry with tears of Love for their King.
We have twisted the meaning of having "faith" in God as being able to believe He exists even though we cannot physically see Him. Wow. I have met with a woman who started an orphanage for small street children in Peru. She has no money, she has no job, she has no help or support from a church, yet she survives and all of the children are fed and clothed. I asked her, "How do you get money?" She replied, "By Faith". I asked her, "Aren't you afraid the children will starve?" She replied with a smile on her face, "No, no, no! I have Faith in Jesus, what do I need to fear?" We have created a religion that doesn't really need Him, but society has told us that He is our path to Heaven, and we all want to go there when we die, right? But do we miss the point? How can this be called Faith?? Was God created for us, or were we created for God?
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I thank you for the comment on my blog and I thank you for your blog. There are too many people in this country that have confused and twisted what it means to be a Christian. My family does not watch t.v andwe don't pay close attention to the news. We concentrate on being the most Christlike we can be. I appreciate when people speak the truth with such convictions. It is refreshing to see this in a cursed world. I know of few people that truly love Christ and strive to be Biblical with everything that they do. They also feel as you and I do. Thank You!
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