Peaceful, Not Boring

 

Daily Thoughts and Encouragement for January 14, 2015.

 

Christianity: Peaceful, Not Boring

 

Daily Thought: My life as a Christian can be exciting and thrilling

Daily Reading:2 Peter 3:14

 

 

 

Its funny how the images of the Christian life and the Secular life are so skewed by popular media and entertainment outlets. The representation of the Christian life often goes one of two ways: either we are depicted as being "haters", or that we live these mundane, boring lives while the partiers and jet-setters experience the world in all of its glory and go on fabulous vacations and etc. Not often does the news go into the stories of Christians dodging bullets for Christ on mission in Pakistan or saving the lives of children in the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. Conveniently, the parts of the interviews that individuals discuss their faith are edited out. They also don't talk about how 70% of all non-profit community service organizations are faith-based, or how "the church" is leading the effort to fight the orphan population in China. Don't worry- I'm not going to go on a political rant or anything. But I do want to set the record straight.

 

Being a Christian and becoming a Christian should be the least boring that our lives have ever been! Just think about it a second! Undergoing dramatic self-growth, feeling the fire and passion of new belief, visiting the world in missions and experiencing dramatic different and new cultures, having positive activism, celebrating the joy of a new extended family. This life is one that leads to excitement and intrigue. If you are Christian and have begun living a stale life- it is time to re-evaluate! Jesus gave us the command to go out into this world and get our hands dirty!

 

 

You see brothers and sisters, we are indeed called to strive to be peaceful, as indicated in today's reading, but we were also called to be do-ers. We are called to not quarrel with non-believers, because in doing this we actually turn them away from God. This is a call to be peaceful, not boring. Use the example of the apostles in the early formation of the church: they were arrested, flogged, shunned. They traveled and planted churches. They hid out like "James Bonds" planting undercover church seeds. Being peaceful didn't mean that they didn't live extraordinary lives. More often than not, it meant that when they were caught- they didn't duke it out with authorities. Instead, they greeted suffering with gladness. They rocked the boat.

 

 

Let us go today with the mindset that we should not survive as Christians, but thrive! Let us go and be intentional and purpose driven, and win back the hearts and minds of the world that has deemed us as archaic. God Bless You and Your Journey!