Sharing Our Story

If we have a relationship with Jesus we all have a story. Often times we forget that, settling into the normal daily routines. We forget that we were once blind, but now we see. We were once dead, but now we are alive. So we stop talking about how our story intersected with God’s story. When this happens it is a good indication that our relationship with Christ is lukewarm at best.

Over the past week we have been looking at some excerpts from Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. Today, we look at what happens to our witness for Christ when we lose our passion for Him. Chan writes, “Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion.” (Crazy Love, p. 71)

I have to admit that one of the things that I miss the most about no longer working in the secular work place is the constant opportunity to interact with people who do not know Christ personally. The opportunity to share what God has done, and is doing, should be one of the most joyous things we get to do as followers of Christ. It can also be one of the most difficult things to do if we let our pride get in the way of the Spirit’s guidance.

The bottom line is that when we are in love we talk about the one we are in love with. When we are crazy, head over heels in love, we can’t stop talking about the one we are in love with. We definitely do not avoid talking about the ones we love like we are ashamed of Him. In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus makes it clear that if we are in love with Him, we must ensure we are not ashamed of Him. Do you talk about Jesus as if you are in love with Him?

Radical or normal?

The call to follow Jesus is not a call to the easy life or a life of comfort. It is a call to “radical followership.” While we might say this is true, we must ask ourselves if our lives demonstrate this is true. Chan writes, “Lukewarm people are moved by the stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. They assume such action is for ‘extreme’ Christians, not average ones. Lukewarm people call ‘radical’ what Jesus expected of all His followers.” (Crazy Love, p. 70-71)

I remember listening to the story of a woman who gave up her job as a captain on a heavy jet for a major airline, and instead, travelled with a group of evangelists for a year. My thought as she shared her story was, “she’s crazy!” The more I read the pages of Scripture, the better I understand her choice. Now I would simply call her decision normal by New Testament standards. Giving up everything and following Jesus is something required of a normal follower of Christ. We have come to the point in our comfortable lives where the normal actions of someone who has given their life to Christ are seen as being radical.

What is the radical call for followers of Christ? Doing what it is that Jesus wants us to do, when He wants us to do it. In other words, living out the Word in practice, not simply agreeing in theory. It means that when God says we must love our enemies, we actually do. When God says that we cannot love God and money, we ensure we have actually chosen God over money. It means we do not simply listen to the Word of God and fool ourselves, but we actually live it out (James 1:22). It means when God says go we go and when God says stay we stay.

If we are in love with Jesus we begin to see what is considered radical by the lukewarm, as being completely normal for a follower of Jesus. Would you ever be accused as doing something radical because God asked you to?

Grieved by Sin

Hopefully you have taken the time to ask yourself the hard question each day so far. If we desire to see God do something extraordinary in our midst, we must ensure that we are seeking Him. Not simply a surface level, happy interaction to make us feel better, but a true encounter with the Living God that requires us to reveal the very core of who we are.

As we continue on this journey of self-examination, the questions get harder. Today we look at what lukewarm people think about sin. Chan writes, “Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they only want to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it; they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don’t really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one.” (Crazy Love, p. 70) I told you it gets harder!

As you examine yourself, can you say that you genuinely hate sin? That is a tough question when we dig past the surface. As a parent, I frequently have to help my children understand that it is not “getting in trouble” that should motivate their actions, but instead a longing to glorify God by making right choices. As followers of Chris,t we must hate sin because by His very nature He hates sin. We cannot be conformed to the image of Christ and hold on to those things that are in direct opposition to His nature.

There was a time in my life when this description fit me perfectly. And I would have to say that my relationship with Jesus was lukewarm at best. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1–2 ESV) We must move past simply being sorry for the consequences of sin to being grieved by the sin itself. The new life that God has for us is better by far than the bondage of sin. Do you believe this is true?