Casual Christians

There is no such thing as a casual Christian because there's no low-commitment version of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Either we are ready to lay down our life for Jesus or we're not really prepared to follow Jesus.  Our faith demands our entire lives -- no half-hearted entering in.

Jesus told this story:  “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”  (Matthew 13:3-9 and 18-23 NIV)

One of the great weaknesses of people in the church in Canada is our unwillingness to humble ourselves and do whatever the Bible says will make a difference for good in our world. Once in a while following Jesus is difficult. Once in a while Jesus asks for a sacrifice, obedience when it is inconvenient, even painful. Although he doesn't ask most of us to die for Him, Jesus does ask all of us to live for Him.

In our culture of "consumer Christians" these are challenging words to hear.  Our hearts are hard to anything other than what is useful for our own wellbeing today.  We're not interested in someone like Jesus telling us to follow His agenda first rather than our own.  Sometimes, we hear things about the healing and forgiveness that Jesus offers and we decide to follow Him but then life around us takes priority over following His ways.  We want to do certain things Jesus says not to do.  We think we have to fix this or that, and we are so busy doing it that we have no time for listening to Jesus and forming a relationship with Him.  Soon we slip further and further back into our own isolated self-centered world and Jesus is forgotten. 

Jesus has told us that he is "the way the truth and the life."  Do we believe it?  If we really do, we need to look to Jesus, follow Him through trials, tests and troubles that will certainly cross our path, and get on with the kind of life that Jesus created us to live -- one of doing good to glorify God.  Living life God’s way will bring ultimate satisfaction but, in the short term, will go against our self-centered desire to simply be comfortable and live for our own convenience.

Casual or whole-hearted commitment -- what needs to happen in our thinking and behaving today for us to make the move to whole-hearted Christian living?

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