Image someone coming to you and offering you something of great value. All they ask for in return is that you love and honor them. Seems like a great deal.
This is Christianity in a nutshell.
So…….how do you explain the fact that about half of us reject the offer outright? Then, about half of those who nominally accept the offer do so half heartedly………they accept the gift….but shut the giver up in a tiny corner of their life. They check the box for an hour on Sunday……..or worse, only on Easter and Christmas Eve.
That is pretty much the case with Christianity.
Why do so many of us resist God’s offer?
What is it about the offer that is so terrifying?
Some will say that science and history don’t support Christianity. They don’t want to look foolish…..or naive. But, realistically, science and history don’t support secular humanism either…..science has no answer to the really big questions: “what caused the big bang?” or “how did life begin?” or “how does a new species form?” or “how did we shift from asexual reproduction to sexual reproduction…….among others. Science is a foil that we use to keep God at a distance. The source of our fear must be somewhere else.
I believe that the reason that so many people embrace secular humanism……….even among nominal Christians………is that Christianity terrifies them.
I have always been a nominal Christian. But, for decades, if you judged me by the way I ran my life, I was a practicing secular humanist. During that time I dated a serious Christian woman and one day my lukewarm “secular” faith came up in conversion. She said, “what are you afraid of……that God will ask you to do something that you don’t want to do?” Afraid didn’t come close……I was terrified. I dropped her like a bad habit.
And that brings me around to the topic of this post. I believe that the thing that terrifies people the most about serious Christianity is change.
We like our life just the way it is. We are comfortable and we are afraid of being nudged out of our comfort zone. We have no use for a belief system that will disturb the status quo…….that will disrupt the way we operate. We want to be in charge. We ask ourselves……what if God tells me to sell my stuff, take a plane to Nicaragua and wait for further instructions?
Well……here it comes.
There is one thing that you can count on…….and that is that becoming a serious Christian will change you.
The change will be big and it will be permanent. All of your friends will notice. Some may even drop you.
There it is.
But……… what will that change look like?
It probably won’t be a “vacation” in Nicaragua. When God asks you to do something…….it will be something you are good at. After all he created you for a reason and gave you the skills that you posses for a reason. You will never be more satisfied than when you are using the talent that you have been given for the purpose that it was intended……….by the guy who made you. I promise you that this is true.
Rather….
You will be expected to love and care for your fellow man.
You will love and honor your creator.
You will be asked to live your life in a fashion that will make God happy…….and that will make you happy.
You will ultimately give up some things:
Lying, stealing, murder, disrespecting your parents, extramarital sex, jealousy, working on Sunday.
Relax……you can ease into this. You don’t have to be perfect…….not today…….not tomorrow……. not ever. But, you will find yourself trying to improve.
And the result of that change will be the peace and the joy that comes from being in the relationship that you were created to be in………..that comes from being the person whom you were created to be……..the son or daughter of a king.
Christianity will change you into a better version of yourself………….into a better spouse/parent………. into a better friend for the people around you………into a better child of your creator…………into a happier version of yourself.
That change is good. It’s good for the rest of us. But, it is especially good for you.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!
Paul. NIV
“I am making everything new !”
God, NIV