I'm writing this to my Christian brothers and sisters in Christ (or, if you're Caila, my sister in real life as well). I've noticed a doctrine in the Bible, if you can call it that, that seems avoided by most Christians, including me. That is, we aren't of the world, we are of Christ, and as such we should be different than the world.
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..." - Philippians 3:20
As Christians, our citizenship is in Heaven, we are aliens to this world, and as aliens, persecution will follow. Jesus tells us:
"And if the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of this world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - John 15:18-19
As Christians, we are supposed to be persecuted, it is the natural way of things. And as Christians, we are supposed to rejoice in our persecution because it means we are doing the will of God.
"If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified... Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter." - 1st Peter 4:14-16
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 5:10
"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake." - Luke 6:22
That is the rather easy pill to swallow. The hard one comes four verses later:
"Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." - Luke 6:26
This is what most Christians, including myself, tend to skip over. If we are loved by everybody, we aren't doing our jobs as Christians! That is convicting to me, not because everybody speaks well of me, but because I don't know of one person who hates me for being a Christian.
In America, we are in a free land. Praise the Lord. But even in freedom, persecution towards Christians SHOULD be rampant. The problem is that we as Christians are buckling in to the pressures of the world, namely respect and materialism. What would happen if a lawyer came to court one day and started speaking the Word of God to the judge and to everybody? He would be reprimanded. If a teacher got up and preached Jesus to the classroom, he/she would get sued. If I, as a student, preached Jesus in a classroom, the students and professor would probably hate me. But is it unreasonable to do these things? Isn't there a time and a place for evangelizing? Yes! It's called "all the time"! People say "there is a time and place" because they are afraid of persecution. Well, I don't know that for sure, but that's my guess.
The walk of a Christian is supposed to be hard, not easy. How real is Jesus to me if I go through life persuing my own ambitions when people to my left and right are dying and going to hell? Is Christ real to me at all? Do I really believe in Heaven and Hell?
A preacher once went up to a man on death row and started sharing the Gospel with him. After he was done, the man said to him, "it can't be true." "Why not?" Asked the preacher. "Because if it was true, Christians would have been crawling through broken glass to tell me." If Hell exists, and it is infact eternal agony and pain and seperation from God,and Jesus really is the only way to escape that, and not just escape it but spend all eternity in perfect bliss with the most perfect Heavenly God, then why are we as Christians not giving our ALL, every ounce of our being, to sharing the Gospel with people?
We as Christians should be TOTALLY sold out, preaching Christ wherever we go. I bet that you'll lead more people to Christ that way. And isn't that what really matters? Besides, that is what we are called to do. We are called to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." - Matter 28:19
I don't neccessarily believe that as Christians we should all sell our stuff and hit the road, but I believe that's about as Christian as we can get. Personally I'm pursuing film making, which I believe God has called me to, and which is one of the most worldly industries in the history of the world. But as a Christian, I pray and hope you pray for me as well, that I won't ever get caught up in dollar signs and popularity, but that I use it as a tool for ministry. That's the call of God, that we should use everything He has given us to glorify Him.
Have you guys ever lost a friend or family member? How about a friend or family member that wasn't a Christian? I guarantee that will make you think very hard about eternity. I've had 5 friends die, only one of which I know was a Christian, and yet I still haven't done even close to as much as I should. This is very convicting. In San Bernardino (SoCal) last week 7 people were killed. A lot of them by gunshots from gang related problems, which makes me believe at least a few of them weren't Christians, though I hope they all were. That's the city I worked in, but I can't remember a single time I went out on those streets to evangelize. I know I'm rambling, but it fires me up!
There is no such thing as a practical Christian.