The B.S. (Blogging Society) Q of the Week

Posed by Keith Kirkpatrick

Jesus said, "if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matt 16:24) He also says, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:33)

Most (American) Christians do not look any different from those who do not follow Christ. How do we follow Christ whole heartedly, a life surrendered to Jesus, giving up everything, and as Jesus says in Matt 16:25 we must "lose our life" to "find it"?

To shorten it: How do we look different from the world according to our faith in Jesus Christ?

This is a big question. I know how to answer this giving a church answer but since I dont like doing that and I dont know everything I will answer and probably have some questions of my own.

here is what I do know.

Eph 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Matthew 5-7 the Sermon on the mount is pretty counter cultural.

2Co 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

What I see here is a distinction between motives that then turn into action. I see that by setting my mind to that which God has, my life will be forever changed. I guess the question that has been posed is one of practicality and what that looks like in our day to day.

I have always had a hard time with this. Here is what I will say in a bullet style way.

• Sin: A christian should not be satisfied in their sin but Rather humbled and repentant. Christians recognize that they do sin but also make a conscious effort to correct any sin that is in their life. Jesus Christ is the only way to be forgiven but we have to act like we are repentant.
  
• Deeds: anyone can talk as if God has changed their life but we have got to act like He has. As Francis Chan said in a recent sermon on holiness, "we cannot keep prostituting ourselves out and then come to church like nothing happened." We have to recognize our sin and address it. Then try not to repeat the sin and learn from it.
• Speech: Sin is rebellion against God and we cannot speak as if we are proud of it. When someone is really repentant they dont brag about sin but rather are ashamed that they essentially spit in God's face and turned their back on God.

Simply put Christians that are following Christ need act like they care more about what God thinks then the world. This is the thrust of it all. I have to act like God is bigger then me making a lot of money, being ridiculed, being esteemed by peers, and that God is bigger then ME.

I cannot give a play by play about what this looks like in the everyday life sense because each of us is different and we all have different temperaments and demeanor's. I do know what what ever our personality type is, our minds need to be fixed on the same thing, God, His Word and His Creation.