Too many people today have not completely evaluated what it costs and what it means to be a Christian today. Today people walk half heartedly in the Christian commitment because they do not completely understand the gravity of the decision to follow Jesus Christ. Today the main "selling point" of Christianity is that Jesus will make your life easier and that you will be blessed, you will not have trouble and you will prosper; and while all of those are true, contextually how they are used is from hell itself. Jesus came to liberate and to free people, and He did come to make life easier and blessed, to deliver and to bless, but we must understand the change in perspective that is needed to see how all of these come to pass in the Christian walk.
Today, many "christians" are "christians" to escape a hell they more then likely do not believe in. They trust and say they believe in a belief that they do not live out to sooth their religious conscience and to appear to have a holiness that they do not actually have. They live out 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Today, many are "christian" only in name and not in theology or core belief. In 1 Timothy 3, we see signs of what the "church" and its members look like. Read this passage and see what it says... and realize that it is talking about "christians" today. A recent poll indicated that 84% of Americans believe that they are "christians". I challenge ANYONE to qualify that as a true statement, to prove it true. It simply isnt. Period. If 84% of Americans are Christians, then this awesome power that is available from Jesus Christ is massively overstated. Look at the divorce rate in this country, it is almost the same for Christians as for non-Christians. Look at the abortion rate. Look at the premarital sex percentage of the population. You tell me that things are getting better and 84% of ANY country are Christians! There is a problem with this picture! Who are we kidding! We wonder why the power of God is not present? We wonder why the strip bar and the R-Rated movie club is maxed out and we struggle to get people to pray on Sunday morning! We wonder why this world is falling literally into hell! We look out and blame them, we look out and place the fault of society on the politicians, we look out and say that it is their responsibility! We refuse to even consider that the issue with everything is us! I challenge you today, if Jesus came back, He would not be cleaning out the Church, He would be burning it down and send the personal corruption and legalism to the hell that it came from. He would burn away the mixed messages that the church sends. He would tear away and force people to choose between Him and the world! He would challenge you to see if the world challenges or changes you, spiritually speaking!Jesus Christ DEMANDS surrender if you are to follow Him, and even if He did not demand it, and even if you got through life and went to hell in the end, we still should serve Him and we should still love Him and we should still follow Him simply because He is worthy! Even the demons tremble in the presence and power of Jesus Christ and we "Christians" use Him name as a by-word or a filler... and its simply degrading and blasphemous to do such! He is more then words on a page, more then a god, more then a path... He is THE Word, He is THE God, and He is THE way. There is no other option, there is no other higher power... and we have no fear of HIM! We live in indignant pride with how we live our lives! The reason that we do that is because we have not counted the cost, we have not really understood nor accepted what it means to be a Christian and follow Jesus Christ. When you follow Jesus Christ, when you truly understand what this commitment means, when you accept Him as the Lord of your life, you must count yourself as dead. End of story. Read Luke 14:25-34 and see what that cost is. I am not going to list the versus for you, do your homework, challenge yourself, come to understand surrender. If you cannot count the cost and compare your love for all else as HATRED compared to loving Jesus, you are not fit to be His disciple, you are not fit to follow Him. Prove Matthew 16:24, see if you have denied yourself for Christ, see if you have followed Him and given all else a second thought... No, given all else no thought at all. When you follow Jesus Christ, you have given all that you have, all that you are unto Him. Your strengths, your intellect, your assets, you wealth, EVERYTHING... Nothing is yours and nothing ever will be. You don't seek your honor, you don't try to do anything but glorify Jesus Christ and that becomes your one and ONLY goal for life. You never get to retire, you never get to relax, until you breath your last breath and walk through the gates of Heaven, you are called to give 110% to Jesus. You are called to stand against the crowd, you are called to follow unpopular decisions, you are called to stand for a standard that is so Holy and Sacred that even mentioning it bring shivers of shame and fear to the hearts of unbelievers because the Power of God reaches and touches all no matter what they believe. You are an ambassador to this world for Christ, you are to represent Him and Him alone. You are crucified with Christ and you no longer live. You have given your life over to a power that you cannot explain, a power you cannot contain, and a Savior that will not be restrained. When you surrender there is no going back. This is just a taste of the level of surrender that is required to be a Christian, to be known and to know Jesus Christ. The very reason that God is not present in our churches, the reason that He is not present in our lives, the reason that He is not around is not because He has forsaken us or that He is not with us, the reason that God is not present in our churches, the reason that He is not present in our lives, the reason that He is not around is because we have never accepted Him. Jesus operates only in the spirit of love. If He forced Himself into the Church, our lives or our society, it would not be love or grace or whatever you want to call it. Jesus loves us too much to force us to do anything for Him. Jesus loves us so much that He operates with a completely volunteer army. He lets you choose your path and He lets you choose who you will follow and in doing so He lets you choose your consequences such that there is no one to blame for your eternal destiny but yourself. THAT is love. He is a Just God and He is a loving God and because of HIS power and HIS justice He will let you choose. He will not force anything upon you. And Jesus will not force you to bow to Him in this life, but that is because you do not know Him and you have not seen His power or you have ignored it. But when you see Jesus in all His power and glory and majesty and excellency and awe... you will not have any choice but to bow and acknowledge that He is Lord and that He is love and that He is God and that He is everything good, and I don't believe that it will be because He forces you to but because when you see Him, you will see an eternal and endless truth that will transcend what ever theological beliefs that you have. You will bow before the King of kings and the Lord of lords because you will KNOW that He is worthy and that He is to be honored and the awe that you have for Him, whether you are saved or not, will be such that you are smitten with the truth and power of who He is.
Being a Christian is not praying a prayer or saying yes when any minister says to while he prays. Being a Christian is the unwavering surrender of all that you are to all that He is and that you will follow Him no matter the cost simply because you know what He did and that is enough. End of story. Being a Christian is not a denomination, it is not a feeling, it is not a prayer, it is not a means, it is NOTHING more then the complete and total surrender to Jesus Christ. I cannot emphasize this enough because of how many people refuse to count the cost. Being a Christian is not simply acting good or doing good things. Being a Christian is death and surrender. Death to self and all that you want and all that you have and all that you plan and all that you are, everything. It is the surrender to the new life in Jesus Christ. It is living apart from the temptations that so easily beset people, is it living in the belief that Jesus is enough for you and to think that you are lacking anything is to decry the very one who has filled you and made you complete. This is what it costs and what it means to be a Christian. It is not easy, it is not fun. It is hard, it is difficult, and usually it is going to eventually mean death for the very name of the one that saves all... This is what is means to truly be a Christian. I am saying this as bluntly and as intolerantly as I can. And the reason that I say this like I do is because I have been CALLED to nothing less then to be intolerant to sin and to be blunt with people that not accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior means that you are going to go to hell. I am called to tell everyone through my words AND my actions that there is only ONE way, there is only ONE truth and there is only ONE life and that is the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am blunt because if I sugar coat it and even one person goes to hell for that their blood is on my hands. I am called to represent a standard that is so high that I cannot live up to it apart from the total surrender to Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And I say not all this to point out myself or to qualify myself or to lift my self at all. I am the wretch-est and deepest of sinners and I deserve HELL. I am a bad sinner who has lived a wroth and sinful life that has beaten my Savior to the Cross. My life alone has reaped tears and pain upon the Holiest and most Loving and Innocent person that ever lived.. I am a VILE sinner who has committed grievous sins and errors and in the eyes of a righteous, just loving, GOOD God I stand condemned and deserve the eternal wrath of that God. THAT is who I am. That is what I deserve. I am not good. Period. I only stand because the love and grace and mercy and power of God has given me life through Jesus Christ, because Jesus counted the cost and chose me anyway. That is it. And this is why I have surrendered to Jesus Christ and to His life and His plan. Because Jesus says to me "Come as you are- not as you should be".
Count the cost... and choose to be the Christian you were meant to be...
