Something to Ponder

As I mentioned in my book review below, I am really enjoying reading the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman.  He has done an excellent job in making the reader really think about our relationship with Christ.  I tend to pull out some top things in a series of posts that really spoke to me and have left me saying "wow...good point.  I need to think about that some more and let it resonate."

I'll mention the first one today.  I'm just going to quote the paragraph because I can't do it justice if I don't.  It's powerful and I don't want you to miss it, either.

"A few months ago I was speaking in Houston, Texas, and a good-sized man, with a good-sized belt buckle, came up to me with tears in his eyes.  He began to tell me the story of his prodigal daughter, how she went to college and totally turned her back on the faith.  As soon as he started the story, I knew how it would go.  I've heard it so many times, even the details seem predictable.  But when he finished, he didn't ask me why she was doing this or what had gone wrong.  He wasn't looking for an explanation.  Instead, with one sentence he put his finger on what he thought happened.  Here's what he said...'We raised her in Church, but we didn't raise her in Christ.'

You hear what he is saying?  We raised her to look right on the outside but didn't teach her about the inside.  We taught her to keep all the rules, but she never really had a relationship.  We made her feel guilty for the wrong things she did, but somehow she missed God's amazing grace.  We taught her to be a fan of Jesus--instead of a follower of Jesus."

Wow.  Yet, how true is this statement in some of our own lives?  We're taught religion and rules, but often we don't teach our children to fall in love with Christ.  To want Him like no other.  To want to please Him.  To love Him and trust Him no matter what.  If you were honest, are you a rule-follower or are you deeply in love with Jesus?  Not to the point where you just do what He says because you HAVE to, but because you WANT to?  When your children look at you, do they see a reflection of Christ or do they see someone who thinks Jesus is good and all but will only follow Him to a certain extent or when it's convenient or when it doesn't make too many waves?  I think another powerful statement Kyle made was,

"The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren't actually interested in following Christ.  They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything."

I find this is true in so many churches and in Christianity, in general.  Why do we stop following Jesus when it requires us to give of ourselves or our resources?  I don't want to just be an enthusiastic admirer.  I want to be a whole-hearted devoted follower of Christ.