Shocking

Jesus said some shocking stuff. Someone said to me on Saturday, “You’re driving people away from Jesus.” It hurt my heart. Then, on Sunday morning the Spirit said, “Jesus drove people away from Jesus.” Plain. Candid. And, it got me thinking. My reading that morning took me to Matthew 15-20. Each chapter said something hard. Shocking. My take-away this week is that the sayings of Jesus are much harder than the Ten Commandments because he took everything up a level. To the Pharisees, he pointed out that they preferred traditions that argued against the Word of God. To the young commandment-keeping ruler with lots of money, he told to sell everything and give it to the poor (not a commandment, not a law) and then come and follow him. To the discussion about marriage and divorce, Jesus dared to say that it was only because of the hardness of heart that Moses permitted divorce. By the time I got to chapter 20 and read the fact that Jesus told them all that they would have to drink his bitter cup…well, I was done.

I really know that to follow Jesus is costly. While I don’t think I can make an application from what the Lord requires of me to someone else, I can say without apology that to follow God is costly. This week I am tired of pseudo-Christian conversations that say that he would not say what he would, IN FACT, say…and say over again.

We genuinely are in a culture that holds supreme that to love is to not disturb, not confront, not disagree, not change ANYTHING.

The conversations have changed because where we once could sit with a Christian person and point them to the scriptures and to prayer and we could assume that we both agreed that the scriptures had authority in the Christian’s life, we now are having conversations with Christians who DO NOT believe the Bible at all OR they pick and choose among the scripture verses and say, “I believe that is no longer relevant.” Truthfully, these Christians MOSTLY are not reading the Bible as a matter of their personal discipleship. Most of these Christians pray a little here or there for this or that, but they have no roots in Christian faith or practice. This concerns me greatly. We genuinely are in a culture that holds supreme that to love is to not disturb, not confront, not disagree, not change ANYTHING.

Yes! It is sort of freaking me out. FAR TOO MANY of my sisters (and brothers) have completely departed from the devoted Christian life to pursue something that takes a massive revision of the scriptural texts to affirm what they are choosing. Immorality and Impurity of every kind! Drunkenness! Greed! Lust! Gluttony (of which I am also guilty and need God’s grace for repentance and transformation)! Gossip! Hatreds of every kind! Dishonor of parents and one another! Forsaking the fellowship of believers because THEY (other believers, not themselves) are hypocrites!

I’m worried. Do you get worried? What do you do about it?