I am 100% down to the bone marrow pure I cry I thee sold out for the cause of Christ.
The God I serve, the Jesus who died and rose on the 3rd day, the Holy Spirit who guides me, the Holy Trinity is not about that foolishness. The God I serve is a God of peace, love, giving, and forgiveness. That is why I am sold out for Him. He gave it all for me so how can I not? Yet for some odd reason, that statement bothers people.
With the emergence of the whole “conservative Christian right” or as they like to call themselves “evangelical Christians”, I can somewhat understand. Much of what they stand for can hardly be called Christian, and sure as Hades is hot there is nothing right about it. Hate, racism, greed…nothing that my Savior stands for or died for. When they use Christianity to push their agenda it burns my biscuits. Argh! That is not the same Christ I represent. Not in the least.
If you ever read the comment sections of any posts written by any pastor or church leader, legit or not, you will come across some of the most hateful, insulting, and ignorant messages. People calling believers idiots and naïve. How dare those simple-minded Christ loving folks live their lives believing in a God they can’t see? How dare those Jesus followers hurt their feelings by exhibiting faith in Someone they can’t touch? How dare believers want to pray for someone else and exhibit compassion and forgiveness? It’s like people of faith are a personal affront to their sensibilities. But why? Why are non-believers so offended?
No, I don’t want to party like I used to, I don’t need to do that to be happy. No I don’t want to smoke or drink or shoot up or whatever. That just doesn’t do it for me. Sleeping around and bed-hopping only leaves pieces of my soul all over the place and makes me less whole. No thank you. None of those things are good for me anyway, whether I believed in Jesus or not. My wanting to live a holy life is my business. Why does my faith hurt your feelings? I seriously don’t get it.
I Corinthians 15:19 (NLT) – “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”
Be that as it may, I still follow Christ. That is my choice. No one is holding a gun to my head telling me Who to believe in and how to pray. No one is making me attend my church and love it. No one is forcing me to bring my tithe and offering. I freely choose to do these things. Why? Because I know what Jesus did for me. I know He is real. I met Him for myself. To be perfectly honest, I know without a doubt that I would be dead or in jail today if it had not been for the mercy and grace of God.
My life is my ministry. I am not one to push an agenda on anyone. Either you choose to believe or you don’t. Would it bring me joy if you decided to make Jesus your choice? Yes, but I’m not going to twist your arm. It has to be your choice, just like it was mine.
I would rather follow Jesus and get to the end of this life and be right than to not follow Him and be wrong. The ramifications are eternal. I don’t like temps over 80 degrees so an eternity in hell is not exactly the location I’m shooting for.
Hey, you’ve got a choice. It’s all on you. “But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today who you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates (the gods of your past)? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live (greed, hate, lying, death and destruction)? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15 NLT (italics mine)
