Around 75% of America claims to be a Christian, which seems to be pretty good news (considering only 33% of the world says the same). But I wonder if we were really to examine each person’s life, how many of those lives would really exhibit their Christianity. What do I mean by that?
If you ask the majority of these 75% about what they believe, they will tell you that they believe Jesus died for them and now they won’t go to hell, but to heaven by simply believing this fact.
Thank you John 3:16, for being the only verse they know.
It takes more than believing to get you to heaven. I hope this doesn’t shock you. Jesus Christ constantly talked about the price in following Him, which is what “Christian” means—follower of Christ. Jesus told His disciples to drop everything and follow him-their jobs, families, everything. He told His followers to take up their cross daily and follow Him. He told them of the trials and persecutions they would go through when following Him. Simply believing doesn’t cut it. As James, the half-brother of Jesus, talks about in his contribution to the Bible, even the demons believe in Jesus and shudder. Satan knows Jesus as a FACT, and he definitely isn’t going to heaven.
Being a Christian means making a sacrifice for Him who made the ultimate sacrifice for you. But in our culture, we don’t want to sacrifice anything. We are self-centered and don’t understand the importance in putting others before our own self, so no wonder it doesn’t carry over to our faith. I know so many people who genuinely love Christ and believe that He made the ultimate sacrifice for them, but don’t want to do anything about it. They don’t want to change their life, or even make changes to their life. But guess what? Being a follower of Christ means that you are going to have to make changes. This means that you might have to change your group of friends, or even your boy/girlfriend. You might not be able to go to the same places, either physically or even on the internet.
But we don’t want to do that, do we? That’s just too hard. Well how hard is it to live a completely pure life? Be completely and purely sinless. Preach God’s commandments to thousands upon thousands, then get accused of heresy. You are put on a bogus trial for these heresies, and get sentenced to death. Ha, but you know this was your purpose, your destiny, and you take it. You die for the whole world, but it doesn’t stop there. You raise from the dead and reiterate your love and intimate desire for a relationship with the same people who killed you before descending into heaven. The ultimate sacrifice, huh? Maybe sacrificing a few things doesn’t seem so bad now.
Heather Lea Kenison 