The 7-Eleven

"Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another." - Homer

Today I have decided to come back to the series I started a few posts ago. I was writing not just about things I've personally experienced but about things I felt were affecting everyone. My last post of this nature was about drinking and all of its problems. Today I want to discuss something that I feel is worse: the idea that we can live one way on Sunday and another way the rest of the week. More specifically, I guess, is the idea that we would go so far as to call ourselves Christ followers and never act like it. I call this, though I'm sure I'm not being original in doing so, convenient Christianity. 


I guess the easiest way to start this whole conversation is to give an example of just what I mean. We don't have to go very far; all we have to do is look at how the attendance numbers at all the local churches skyrocket on Christmas and Easter. People flock in droves and it's standing room only almost every where you look. I never understood this concept. So...you don't go to church 363 days out of the year but, because you go on those two holidays, you're set? You're Christian duties or obligations are met for the next 363 days? Where does it say that in the Bible? It doesn't. In fact, it says the opposite. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 it says that we are not to "forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is..." So why only go twice? Why go at all on those two days if you don't feel the need to do so the rest of the year? What exactly is the point? Do they think that going and playing religious and spiritual will erase all the bad they do the rest of the year? As I said before: I just don't get it. That's what I mean by "convenient Christianity." It's convenient for these people to attend on the holidays; a time when family gathers and it just feels like the thing to do. Maybe because everybody expects it. I don't know. 


What I do know is that you can't choose when you want to be a Christian and when you don't. You can't decide that you are saved and then decide not to follow anything Christ has said you must in order to fulfill your purpose as His child. Christianity should not be treated as some sort of twisted fire insurance; there to protect you in case of an emergency but otherwise ignored. In other words, you can't keep living your life as if you never accepted the sacrifice Christ made for you on the cross. That kind of gift demands a certain amount of respect and awe and honor. How can we act so indifferently towards something that is beyond extraordinary? He died a gruesome and horrific death not so that we could continue living our lives in the same manner as before but so that we could have life more abundant (John 10:10). It's insanity the way we behave. That's like having the lottery tell us we won the jackpot when we never even bought a ticket and then going home and eating the same ramen noodles! What possible sense does that make? 


The point is that it doesn't. The point is that some people like to have that religious or spiritual label but don't want any of the responsibilities that come with it. They don't want to give up going to the bars on the weekends and getting wasted with their friends because it might make them look dull. They don't want to let go of those nasty habits of profanity and smoking because they just don't see why they should have to. They don't want to go to a "boring" church service on Sundays or Wednesdays because then they might miss their favorite t.v. show (because you know it's not the same when you DVR it). They don't want to give up sexual immorality because they never want to be mistaken for anything but sexy and cool and free spirited. They don't want to do Bible study or daily devotions because who really has the time to sit and analyze the King James version, or any other version, with all those big words? They don't want to give up their racism and hatred for their brother because that goes against all they were ever taught growing up and they don't want to be the kind to sit around a campfire and sing kumbaya. They don't want to be faithful in their marriage or even work at it because that would mean letting go of everything in the past and opening up and possibly being mushy.They don't want to tithe 10% of their income because, gasp, that would mean not going out to eat every night or not going to the movies or buying coffee at Starbucks. 

They want their cake and they want to eat it too. Truth is you can't do that. Not in this instance anyway. You can't walk around with your "light under a bushel" so to speak because the nature of thing is in complete opposition to that very idea. The gospel begs to be shared not hidden in your heart to be called upon on a rainy day. It begs to be brought into the darkest regions of humanity so that its principles may bring sunshine to even the most depraved. We are called for that very specific purpose in Mark 16:15: "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Nothing about the verse, or any verse for that matter, says we should keep the gift of life to ourselves! Now, this particular post is not really about the actual spreading of the gospel because that's a whole different post all together, but it all ties in one way or the other. If we are only going to church on holidays, or even once a month, but we refuse to live as new creations in Christ the rest of the time then we are neither fulfilling our purpose to witness to the lost nor doing ourselves or our personal lives any favors. Indeed, we are kidding ourselves in this awful game of sharades and we will pay the price eventually.

You either are a Christian or you are not. There is no middle ground. God talks about this straddling the fence of sorts in Revelation chapter 3: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." I think that He's making Himself pretty clear: you can't play the field here. You're either fully in or you're out and to be in the middle is spew-worthy. If you want the spiritual or Christian "label" you have to accept that with it comes the responsibilities due a child of God. You have to accept the mission as well as the blessings and gifts that God is so desperatly trying to give you. It says this in 1 John 2: "And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning." Basically everything I've mentioned to this point was said here first. You can't say you are abiding in Christ and not walk that way too. To this end, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John as well as 1st and 2nd Peterare amazing books to read on the topic.


So now, you have a decision to make. Are you in or out? Are you ashamed and unwilling to go the distance or are you proud and willing to be the salt of the earth? We need to be willing to cast off our old sinful selves. As Christians we need to step up and be what we are called to be...do what we are called to do. If not us then who?