Christians - little Christ?
Christians - little Christ?
Just some thoughts after attending today's "Day of Prayer" at college ...
When Christians were first called "Christians" in Antioch, the term actually implied "little Christ". I guess there and then, the early apostles and followers of the Lord Jesus really took their faith seriously and lived in accordance to all the teachings of the Lord. They were serious in meeting together constantly, praying together, breaking bread together, and most importantly, studying the Word of God. It seems that no part of their lives were outside the influence of God.
But what has happened in our world today? Are Christians still "little Christ"? As in, do we still model and live our lives so carefully that none of our life is outside the sphere and influence of God's reign? Do we intentionally do so? Sadly, this doesn't seem to be so.
We have many young Christians who are 2nd generation, 3rd generation or even 4th generation Christians - young people who are born into Christian families, who were baptized as babies, who attended Sunday School since the age of 3 or so. I often wonder if they do truly know the meaning of "KNOWING" God - that is, not intellectually, but experientially? Well, let's not just "pinpoint" this group, let's also look at the adults - adults who call ourselves Christians, are we living and acting like Christians?
I lament the fact that as I look around, I often see Christians (young or old) taking God's saving grace for granted - I mean, there are real serious ones who really live and testify for the Lord, sharing His love with others, but there are some who just "spoil the market". Knowledge of God becomes reduced to the intellectual aspect, and experience of God seems to be limited only to Sunday, during church worship, a life "with God" is only contain on Sunday and not the rest of the week. What has happened?
There can be altar calls after altar calls and the same person can respond one time after another - but is that response genuine? I mean, if God has seriously touch your heart and caused you to turn in repentance, will you allow yourselves to fall into the same trap and feel sorry all over again, and repeat the whole vicious cycle countless times through? What then is the meaning of repentance? Little wonder why other religion seemed to be doing so well in their "evangelism" and the Christian circle is not. We are just too complacent, or simply put, we are just too comfortable with our own faith to be shaken out to do something for the Lord - we probably think that since God is so gracious, so good, so kind, and the list goes on ... He will understand our struggles, He will be compassionate about our failures, etc? Isn't it?
I believe that somewhere along the line, you probably have heard comments like this before, "If being a Christian is like what this person is, then I rather not - what's the difference? I think comparatively, I'm much better than he or she who call himself or herself a Christan." I'm "coerced" to agree that this is somewhat true, and I believe this is also why we often fail in our evangelism, perhaps? We focus too much on the "evangelism" (aka the "act" of (one-time) sharing the Gospel with non-believer) itself that our lifestyle don't speak coherently with what we are preaching. When we preach, we act "Christian", excited to share about our faith; but when we don't preach, we act so "unchristian".
Christians - little Christ? Are we truly little "Christ" - or have we cause our Lord to suffer shame because of our selfish ways of life, because we are just not willing to step out of our comfort zone and allow Him to direct it in the way He wants. Or are we scared that He will tell us to do something that we don't like to do - then maybe our understanding of God needs fresh enlightenment. God is not a sadist - He need not save you and me out of eternal condemnation (which costs Him His life!) only to make us "suffer".
Jeremiah 9:23-24 "This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD."
Just some thoughts after attending today's "Day of Prayer" at college ...
When Christians were first called "Christians" in Antioch, the term actually implied "little Christ". I guess there and then, the early apostles and followers of the Lord Jesus really took their faith seriously and lived in accordance to all the teachings of the Lord. They were serious in meeting together constantly, praying together, breaking bread together, and most importantly, studying the Word of God. It seems that no part of their lives were outside the influence of God.
But what has happened in our world today? Are Christians still "little Christ"? As in, do we still model and live our lives so carefully that none of our life is outside the sphere and influence of God's reign? Do we intentionally do so? Sadly, this doesn't seem to be so.
We have many young Christians who are 2nd generation, 3rd generation or even 4th generation Christians - young people who are born into Christian families, who were baptized as babies, who attended Sunday School since the age of 3 or so. I often wonder if they do truly know the meaning of "KNOWING" God - that is, not intellectually, but experientially? Well, let's not just "pinpoint" this group, let's also look at the adults - adults who call ourselves Christians, are we living and acting like Christians?
I lament the fact that as I look around, I often see Christians (young or old) taking God's saving grace for granted - I mean, there are real serious ones who really live and testify for the Lord, sharing His love with others, but there are some who just "spoil the market". Knowledge of God becomes reduced to the intellectual aspect, and experience of God seems to be limited only to Sunday, during church worship, a life "with God" is only contain on Sunday and not the rest of the week. What has happened?
There can be altar calls after altar calls and the same person can respond one time after another - but is that response genuine? I mean, if God has seriously touch your heart and caused you to turn in repentance, will you allow yourselves to fall into the same trap and feel sorry all over again, and repeat the whole vicious cycle countless times through? What then is the meaning of repentance? Little wonder why other religion seemed to be doing so well in their "evangelism" and the Christian circle is not. We are just too complacent, or simply put, we are just too comfortable with our own faith to be shaken out to do something for the Lord - we probably think that since God is so gracious, so good, so kind, and the list goes on ... He will understand our struggles, He will be compassionate about our failures, etc? Isn't it?
I believe that somewhere along the line, you probably have heard comments like this before, "If being a Christian is like what this person is, then I rather not - what's the difference? I think comparatively, I'm much better than he or she who call himself or herself a Christan." I'm "coerced" to agree that this is somewhat true, and I believe this is also why we often fail in our evangelism, perhaps? We focus too much on the "evangelism" (aka the "act" of (one-time) sharing the Gospel with non-believer) itself that our lifestyle don't speak coherently with what we are preaching. When we preach, we act "Christian", excited to share about our faith; but when we don't preach, we act so "unchristian".
Christians - little Christ? Are we truly little "Christ" - or have we cause our Lord to suffer shame because of our selfish ways of life, because we are just not willing to step out of our comfort zone and allow Him to direct it in the way He wants. Or are we scared that He will tell us to do something that we don't like to do - then maybe our understanding of God needs fresh enlightenment. God is not a sadist - He need not save you and me out of eternal condemnation (which costs Him His life!) only to make us "suffer".
Jeremiah 9:23-24 "This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD."
Comments
......that i've visited. :)
and i must say it's really really impressive.
you must be able to type very fast in order to get all those thoughts out in such a short period of time considering your work-load, college assignments and not forgetting coffee breaks. *wink*
i did a word count and (gasp)...you just wrote 774 words so effortlessly. now if only i could use some of it for my assignment tonight...sigh...
gotta get started on it now....
9:48 AM