If everyone who claims Christianity actually lived for God, this world would be a very different place.
Disclaimer:
1) This is mostly in continuation from [That's it i'm done with bad for now, right?]
2) I’m going to do the best i can to prevent myself from waxing the same rhetoric as I am most likely to do when approaching this topic: That we have such big cars, that we don’t care, that we just go about our lives like the rest of the world doesn’t even matter. This will be difficult, because that is invariably how i feel, and honestly, I believe these statements to be true and factual. That said, I now carry on with this article.
This world is an evil place. Men kill each other over minor theological differences in the same basic religions, children are
trafficked across city, state, and country borders – yes, even here in the United States – for the purpose of sexual exploitation, women are permanently disfigured with acid burns to their faces for the simple act of failing to accept a wedding proposal. Children are used as human shields in conflicts raging across the middle east, whilst children starve even here, on the streets in the cities of America… Many people know about these atrocities, and yet, they continue to happen – even now, while you are reading this, a child might be sold by the hour to a sick and perverted individual for the purpose of completing unspeakable acts.
And this doesn’t change. Day to day, if anything, it gets worse. The spirit of depravity in this place grows more and more sickening with every passing hour, every sweep of the minute hand, as more people fall prey to the unholy acts of their peers and elders.
And yet – if we as Christians were all truly living for the Kingdom – were truly living for Christ, this world would be a far different place. That’s not to say that there wouldn’t be crime, sickness, depravity, and pestilence – this is a fallen world, after all – but there would be an overall ‘betterness’ to the situation as it is.
Picture this (it shouldn’t be hard, it happens on a regular basis) you’re driving home after an exceptionally long day at the office, tired, beat, worn. All you want to do is get home to your family and relax. But all around you, people keep driving like there are no laws – nudging into the turn lane after having sped up the entire length of it in the shoulder, cutting many people off. They ignore traffic signals, they speed through intersections, they shift lanes when the line is solid white, they cuss and they scream and they throw up certain digits with reckless abandon, they show little to no regard for their fellow man, solely that they may get home a few minutes earlier, albeit with a higher blood pressure. And then you notice that there… on the bumper, or beside the shiny logo… there’s an Ichthys planted there. Apparently this person believes that by putting this symbol on their vehicle, they are evangelizing despite their actions.
Romans 2:17-24 says it best, in my humble opinion (emphasis added):
“17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”“
But we do what we are supposed to, right? We go to church on the Sundays that don’t have a game… We put that money in the collection basket, because we’re asked to, right? Ten percent of out earnings, and we’re in, we’re going to heaven – we believe that Jesus came to this earth to die for our sins, that way we can do whatever we want, and it’s not going to piss off God! That’s our freedom!
It’s not over on Sunday. Truly living for the Kingdom of God means more than just singing a few songs once a week. God is more
than 2 hours, He should be filling the other 166 hours a week as well, because it’s simply not that easy. The common issue is that we live for ourselves, and our careers, putting our own goals and desires ahead of those goals that are truly important. Think about the volume of people in the world that truly have nothing – that lack even the ability to take a shower every day. There are so many people that are hurting every day, that die everyday from something as simple and curable as starvation, and yet, daily, we throw away enough food to feed a small nation.
While I’m not saying that we should give up everything we have and start a convent in a third-world country, because this wouldn’t accomplish anything in the long run – there’s still the issue of a basic lack of love to worry about. Our focus is in the wrong direction – we pay more attention to getting things that really, truly do not matter instead of those things that do. We should show patience, grace to others – it is through our actions that we are seen to be who we really are. And through these actions we will began the shift that is needed in the world, this mortal plane.
And this shift of focus comes from knowing Jesus, not just knowing who He is. Every day is God’s day.
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