Take it or leave it.

Lately I've been really thinking through life. No, not the fact that life throws so much your way, and the only normal thing is really the fact that nothing's normal. It's a paradox of sorts, but that's what I thrive on - that's what God thrives on. Paradoxes define our lives. But in particular, I was pondering what I believe - not IF I believe it, but how it relates to others. How can I express my Christian beliefs in a world that is so lost? So many don't care about Christianity, much less want to hear what I believe. How can I know that what I'm saying might actually be understood by someone, or that someone would be changed through it?

Recently I've been struck by the utter hopelessness of life without God. There is no reason to hope for the future. Chance or fate is cruel; it kills and maims and destroys. People make decisions and things happen that we just can't explain. There is no hope to go on; there is hate and destruction and ugliness. What is truth but subjective beliefs? What is love but a momentary feeling often confused with fleshly desires? What is hope but a dream that one wakes up from, emerging into a nightmare?

Atheists argue that our Christian beliefs are faulty because we're caught in the past; myths and wanting to feel things cloud our vision. Our emotions and our mislead minds trick us to believe there is a God. There is no truth, only power. There is no fight between right and wrong, only a struggle between evils. And of course there's no such thing as evil or depravity. There's simply someone fighting for absolute power.

Yet as Christians, we can recognize this degradation of truth as the tactics of someone indeed fighting for absolute power; Satan is trying to pull the world to himself. In a way he has managed to do so quite successfully. He glories in death and destruction. He fights for the smearing of objectives and morals. He shouts against God in anger, blaspheming him. He misleads those who might call themselves Christians to believe that God is distant. He is fighting tooth and nail to keep the truth from the unbelievers. He tries to reason that since truth is relative and there is no hope, one should simply gratify themselves. And thus the culture of hedonism arises. Those who would benefit the greatest from the truth are blinded to the Word; many turn to mocking God and disregarding him.

The world is already a depraved place. It is evil. Many take pleasure in wrongdoing, the culture spits in God's face, and those who even believe in God are mocked as fundamentalists. They are labelled the most dangerous people on the face of the planet. Religion of any sort is called a myth and a danger to mankind. Everyone is content with painting God - and all references to Him - out of the picture. They're perfectly fine on their own; man is good enough to survive without a deity.

Yet then innocents die every day. Wars appear, not for independance or for freedom, but for the power struggle between two equally evil individuals. Catastrophes occur. And people are blind.

We are the Christians, living in this age. We are supposed to be salt and light. We are called to be in the world but not of it, and that is what God expects us to be. We are supposed to be pure; we are to seek to be as Christ - a living example of love and light. We are to reflect hope and truth.

Do we? I know so many teenagers my age who I have no doubt are actually Christians. Yet they are just like the world. They talk like the world, they think like the world, they have no qualms. They are not just in the world, they are of it. Yet they think themselves as good and better than the world - no doubt they are better in some regards, but there is so much that they miss because they're not willing to step out and be different for the sake of Christ. They don't want to give up a worldly lifestyle that gratifies self and glorifies depravity. They don't reflect Christ. They reflect the twisted thinking of the world, not the pure truth of Christ.

There is still hope. We can still meet as Christians - so many in other countries are forbidden to do just that - and we can worship him without fear of being killed. Even though the setting of the sun on this world is looming, there is still light. Some day the light will be hidden and we may face death for our beliefs. Those who were shallow will be put to the test. Many will fail and many will fall. Yet we still have time to reach others with the hope of Christ. This isn't a thing to procrastinate on, my friends. Hope and light are in our hands and that is exactly what the world needs. We can't let this culture lull us to a fitful sleep; we need to wake and become the generation God wants us to become, before it is too late. I don't want to realize some day I wasted time I could have been working for Christ while I still could. I hope you don't have to have such a harsh awakening either.

The hope and light of Christ needs to be shown to the world. This is our mission. Take it or leave it.

posted by paradoxically correct @ 7:17 AM 6 Comments