Pro American Christian
Ready for this?:
I may be one of the better American Christian guys you’ll meet. I’ve got the knowledge, pedigree, talent, time spent in the trenches of ‘ministry’, and a ‘holiness’ history to prove it. I know how to ‘do church’ with the best of them. My friends that have known me the longest would agree with my opening statement and would in fact tell you that I could be on the varsity team as an American Christian…I could go Pro! How’s that for an awesome intro.
I must say, in these past 7 years I have felt more and more like the apostle Paul when he basically said…”I am one of the greater Jews around. The “Hebrew of Hebrews”… knowledge/pedigree etc… but it all means nothing next to knowing and following Jesus.” Literally all of Paul’s righteousness equals a pile of skubala…(yup Paul cussed in Greek).
In this past season Hilary and I have had the gift of sobering up from religiously “doing church” and been faced with the simplicity of following Jesus as His church. This is not a knock on gathering as the Church in any way but a knock on our posture and definitions of Church. I’ve said many times that I honestly feel like I’m enrolling in preschool as a follower of Jesus and am daily watching the words of Jesus wage war on my default button of my Varsity American Christianity. I will expound more on this in future posts, but I am constantly blown away at my success as a “Christian” but my failure as a follower of Jesus.
Recently I’ve had a few friends come to me and sheepishly admit the same strong indictment. They’ve said, “I can talk about Jesus all day long. I can give you facts and reasoning for what He said, did and the why behind it all,” and here’s where it gets good, “but I don’t know if I actually know Him.” Have you ever felt that? Do you presently?
Each time these friends have shared this with me, I’m sure they were not expecting my response. I simply smile as if I know exactly where they’re coming from and welcome them to preschool with me!
All to say, here’s my invitation: Come to preschool with me and let’s figure out how to simply know Jesus and follow Him. Preschool is way more fun!
Philippians 3:8-9 I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him...