Friday, July 4, 2008

What's the weather going to be tomorrow?

Maybe it is my age or watching people give themselves to endless pursuits that are constantly replaced by other pursuits, but either way it is easy to go through life in meaningless activity. Christians can easily get caught up in debating issues such as whether a really committed Christian can be a democrat. We probably would be disappointed in Jesus' response to this kind of thinking.

Proverbs 15:9 Message Translation "A life frittered away disgusts God; he loves those who run straight for the finish line." We can waste our life by having endless conversations about the trivial or debating issues that give no encouragement to people without Jesus. It may be difficult to understand but we can waste our life by spending much of our time with Christians rather than intentionally doing life with pre-Christians. Christians who isolate themselves from the world Jesus came to give life to or who are on some kind of crusade to convince people of their misdirected lifestyle will end up not having much influence on those outside of the faith community. This is also evidence of a life frittered away. Church must be done in the heart of the marketplace.

Our lifestyle must be one that makes sense to an unbelieving world. Jesus was the most relevant person that ever lived on the planet. If we are giving our life to issues that have little or no eternal value, we will become irrelevant to those needing Jesus. In the book "Unchristian" there is a statement that is pointed: "Christians are usually on the edges of society pointing fingers at outsiders, judging and condemning them." To do this is to live opposed to the way Jesus lived.

John 3:17 "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again." Any life lived differently than the way Jesus lived is to fritter it away. Let's give the world an accurate and complete picture of the faith life.