"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
God is moving powerfully in my life, and the lives of many Christians around me. Here's a hint:
http://www.desiringgod.org
I'm done with comfortable Christianity. I've heard it said that the first thing Satan does in this country to a new Christian, is to build a nice pram for them. Smother them with comfort and security so that they quickly fall asleep. Some talk about personal evangelism, where we suppose that if we share our lives with people for long enough that living as "nice" people is going to tell people the Gospel. Then we hold that up as some kind of justifiable replacement for passionately loving God by living out lives to glorify God in every way with every breath, by leaving our comfort, casting aside our fears and anxieties and proclaiming the Gospel whenever and wherever we possibly can!
That link really says it all much better than I could. Check it out, it's an audio file of a sermon, under an hour long. I wish we could grasp a greater understanding of God's awesome glory and how He is more satisfying than everything we could ever want or need and that we could have an even greater passion and joy for glorifying Him. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." 1 Corinthians 13:12. The greatest joy we will experience will be rejoicing in God when we are face to face with His glory, and the amazing thing is that it's not that far away. We're not here on earth for very long. I wish Christians everywhere could join with Paul in saying, "to live is Christ and to die is gain." Colossians 3:2 says this, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." And when we get hold of how awesome it will be to be with God in heaven, that's what will give us a single passion in this life, and that passion will be to glorify Him.
Another comment about a common comfortable Christianity opinion of evangelism came to my mind:
We grieve the Spirit of Christ if we resign ourselves to simply waiting for "opportunities" when we should be passionate about MAKING "opportunities" for sharing the Good News.
Our time everyday that so often we have the audacity to call "free" and that we fill with watching worthless television and feeble attempts at self-gratification, is our God-given opportunity to glorify Him by living, speaking and breathing His message!
For a Christian there is no such thing as "free" time. There is only time that has been bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus in His awesome sacrificial love.
Don't get me wrong, we need to take rests and it is God-glorifying to do so. But isn't the best way to refuel our bodies and souls not to sit in front of the television, but to sit in front of the throne of God in prayer, listening to Him, not the world?
Again, Jesus showed us the example.
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