The Next Great Challenge
I’ve been writing this piece in my head and my heart, but I’ve dreaded publishing it. I’ve dreaded it for so many reasons, most of which boil down to cowardice and fear, fear of rejection, fear of exclusion, fear of being held to my own (too) high standards.
Before you go any further, you need to listen to the following songs. They are part of what is playing out and shaping my thinking.
- Larry Norman, “Great American Novel”
- Charlene, “I’ve Never Been to Me”
- Steve Camp, “Living in Laodicea”
Real Christianity is dead in America. The Christian church is f*cked up. We are ingrown and pew bound. We do not know how to get out of our comfort zone, and we are so asleep at the wheel that we are ineffective.
Yes, we do well at altar calls and get those high numbers of people saying yes to Jesus for the first time. We get a good response to people who give their lives back to Jesus.
However, we are not training the next generation of believers. We are not teaching them to live Christ’s standards and apply the double-edged sword of his Word to their lives. With each new technology or idea, we are failing to teach young believers how to hold it up to the light of truth, analyzing its perks and problems and then developing a plan for interacting with the world over it.
Instead, we want to isolate and ignore. If it smells ungodly, we want nothing to do with it. We shake our heads, turn our backs, and walk (or run) away.
And that’s the rub… If no one will go, no one can teach. If no one can teach, then no one will learn. If no one will learn, then nothing can change. If nothing can change, we will lose the heart and soul of our country… and then the rest of the globe.
Even when people are willing to try, they want it their way or the highway. If a person cannot stand the check list used to measure their holiness, then it must be that person. It couldn’t possibly be that the culture has a different interpretation and the teacher or leader has to better understand the culture to ensure accurate communication, interpretation, and application of the Word.
We as Christians lack thought leadership, bare bones creativity, and general chutzpah to make it happen. We don’t want to do the work like the believers in Acts. We don’t want to find ways to meet daily to study together. We don’t want to share. We don’t want to examine things according to the light of truth (like believers at Berea) or walk into the darkest place and contend like the thought leaders there (like Paul at the Areopagus).
And that’s why we’re a laughing stock to our human and not so human enemies. We lack the power to show practical love. We lack the power to live an authentic lifestyle based on the Word. We lack the power to hold our faith and contend for it with courtesy and dignity. We lack the power to pray unceasingly.
We lack because we don’t ask and work like it matters, not from a works based mentality, but from a mentality of honor and obedience flowing from a cleansed heart filled with gratitude.
We have not truly transformed our thinking. If we did, things would be so much different. The book of Acts proves it. Those Christians turned their world upside down.
Yet, how? How do we make it happen?
One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time, one second at a time…
One step at a time, one thought at a time, one breath at a time…
It’s like a muscle. At first, when doing something new, you start slowly following a plan. You do just enough to challenge the muscle without overworking it. You do it again and again. Then you add a bit more challenge and work without overworking.
Initially, abandoning a prideful, sinful lifestyle choice is hard. The enemy certainly doesn’t want us to do it. But, like a muscle, you do it one choice at a time. The next time, you make the same choice but add another spiritual decision or spiritual element. Over time, you grow to eliminate the sin. It is never fear that drives the process. It is always a mature decision built on gratitude for mercy and grace.
Hard work is never easy. But it is always worth it…
Author’s Note: Thanks to Nick Maccarone. His piece, What I Think About When I Think on the Days the World Makes Sense, convicted me in sharing this.
Author’s Note 2: Anyone see an Apollos in me looking for a Priscilla and Aquila?!? Please, send me a Priscilla and Aquila. I need to put my money down the path my not-so-mighty pen has led me…
