Over break, Elyse and I met up for brunch to exchange Christmas gifts and just to catch up on life. Spending any amount of time with Elyse is always tons of fun and so so so encouraging. She is the best. Anyway, we got to talking about church, ministry, and our own lives and we decided that being comfortable is the worst. It's this sneaky sin that creeps in unnoticed until you're in way over your head.
Being comfortable is easy too. I mean, no one wants to be uncomfortable. Last quarter I had all this back pain from sitting hunched over. Lying down didn't help. Sleeping in the fetal position with my knees hugged to my chest didn't help. Even doing "child's pose" (which usually relieves some tension. Yoga ftw, sorry Mohler.) didn't help. So I went to the masseuse. Discomfort alleviated.
But that's not the uncomfortableness Elyse and I were talking about. We talked about those situations where we were scared to confront other Christians about sin in their lives, the conversations with our non-Christian friends we knew we needed to have, and just a general getting out of this Christian fluffy, comfy, nicey bubble we so easily fall into and chill in.
How do we fight this? How can we muster the courage to get into each other's kitchens when we see sin? How do we tell our lost friends about their need for a Saviour? How do we live lives that matter?
You could try harder, I suppose. Join some program. Get more involved in your outreach ministry. You could even "engage the culture". Go to a bar. Go to a strip club. Really get into the world.
But why? I think that's the question we have to ask ourselves. Why are we even doing this? Why is it necessary to point a wayward Christian in the right direction? Why do we need to help the unsaved? Why do we need to fight sin in our own lives? If our answer is nothing more than us trying to be good people by lending a hand to our brother/sister and seeking to end world hunger/poverty/human trafficking or any kind of human suffering then we are no different than Angelina Jolie. Yea, she is a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, but she is no Christian. Why does it matter that we're Christians?
This might come off a little cold, but whatever, I don't think it is. The times I have been most convicted to act have not been after seeing some sad Save the Children ad or even from hearing some crazy sermon because some preacher told me what I needed to do because all my friends will be all burning in Hell asking me why I didn't tell them about Jesus. Guilt comes for a little while, but emotional rises are lame and insufficient like that because they fade.
Genuine conviction and resulting action come after hearing the gospel. Not some fluffy-prosperity-happy-easy-blessed life-if you believe it- gospel, mind you. The real gospel where you know you're a sinner saved only by God's grace and where you have to count the cost of following Jesus. If your heart is moved first then your actions will easily follow. How could they not? Or both could just prove that you aren't even a Christian at all.
Hear and believe the gospel. Count the cost. Then obey.
"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Luke 14:34-35
