Am I too radical or are you too cultural?

I will not apologize to those around me for the fact that I have an opinion about what it really means to be a Christian. I am so sick of hearing about how much I have changed, especially in the last year, because I have simply become more vocal with regards to my beliefs on that subject, as if that is some how a bad thing. Perhaps I have. Good for Jesus. Good that I will defend my beliefs in my Savior. Good that I won't wane under the pressure of those that live in fear.

I am so sick of those who want to think that it's ok to claim Christ without living for Him. Who want to claim Him as Savior, yet not Lord. What have you done for Him lately? Have you placed Him in a box or have you let Him infiltrate every fiber of your being? Have you whined about what you don't have or have you dropped to your knees and thanked Him for every little thing you do have?

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1).

The fact of the matter is that we have been called to radical, life transforming change. Something that is visible and tangible to someone on the outside looking in. Something that they can see and can feel, because trust me, they are watching and they are waiting. They want to see exactly what it means to YOU to be a Christian.

So ultimately, the real question is, are you adding to His Kingdom through your actions or are you turning people away from Him by proclaiming Christ with your words but not with your ways? Are you of any earthly value to Him? Because really there is only two reasons that we have been left here on earth for: #1 to bring glory to God and #2 to proclaim the gospel of Christ Jesus in order to reach His lost children and bring them back to Him.

And if that's not something you are willing to do, to change to become more like Him, to bring glory to Him, and to fulfill your purpose here on earth through declaring His gospel and reaching His lost children, then why call yourself a Christian at all? Why not just call yourself a Culturalian or a Selfishian or a Worldian. Why insult Jesus with your apathy and insolence? Why further disease His Church, His Bride with your cancerous selfish ambitions? Hasn't She suffered enough? And at what cost to Christ's Kingdom?

Is that too radical for you? I'm sorry if it is, but sometimes the only way to stop insurgency is through radical opposition. Jesus would do no less for me.

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body" (Ephesians 4:22-25).

"The partially surrendered life may be Christian in spirit, but it is secular in practice. It may save one's soul, but it hardly leaves a noticeable ripple on one's lifestyle, life view, or the world and culture in which we live. Of what earthly value is Christianity if it leaves no indelible mark on one's lifestyle? It is of no value (in this life) to be Christian if you do not think Christianity - if you do not have a Christian life view.

We live in a broken generation. One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to make this observation, but the obvious question, of course, is WHY? Many think the answer is confusing, but it is not. It is found throughout the record of Scripture - it is disobedience. It is to lead a partially surrendered, or worse, an unsurrendered, unyielded life. How can we learn to be obedient? We must learn how to surrender, to submit to Christ in the details of daily life.

Over the past few decades, many of us started off on the wrong foot with Jesus Christ. It is the proposition that Jesus can be Savior without being Lord. It is the idea that one can add Christ, but not subtract sin. Many of us have merely added Christ to our lives as another interest in an already busy and otherwise overcrowded schedule. This sort of thinking has watered down the meaning of a personal relationship with Christ.

The problem is that we often seek the God we want, but do not know the God who is. Many men and women I have met express complete, utter frustration about leading this kind of defeated (sometimes counterfeit), partially surrendered life - the life of a cultural Christian.

How did this come about? The low demands of cultural Christianity have lead to a low response - it has become the norm. But the Bible calls men and women to a turning point, to a radical, life-transforming change. This turning point is no mean [average or regular] challenge, but a full surrender to history's most ideal, most radical leader: the Lord Jesus Christ." (From 'Walking with Christ in the Details of Life' by Patrick Morley)