Them's Fightin' Words!

So, it's been quite some time since I have written a blog post, but I think it is about time I wrote another.  I went to Zambia, came back, and that was amazing, but I think I will write that blog another time when something else isn't fresh on my mind.

I was reading my Bible today - the book of 1st Peter, the 2nd chapter - and I just kept realizing the strong language that is in both that book, and throughout the entire Bible. Peter uses words like "long for" and "wage war" and others in this chapter. These are not the only examples in the Bible. Paul uses a lot of strong language in his many letters such as: crave, strive, put to death, yearn, love, run the race, exercise, and so many more. Jesus uses strong language too! How many times did he call people broods of vipers or snakes?

These are some pretty strong words. How often do we say that we yearn or long for some cereal? Or some Blue Jays tickets? Or how about that new iPhone? These things are not inherently bad, but when we want these things more than God, they are bad. However, the point of this post is not idolatry, though I am sure I could point out a ton of that in my own life that I need to deal with. The point of this post is to show you that this faith that we are living out is not a joke or a walk in the park.

So often we are just fine with getting by in our Christian faith, and our walk with God. But if we examine the Scriptures, we will surely find that it's not a walk - it's a run, or a marathon. It is not a game we are playing, like Call of Duty or Halo, this is really war against our own sin nature, where we actively seek to pur our sin to death, just as Jesus died, so that Jesus can be the life in us. This is not a sit back and relax, enjoy yourself kind of faith where you go to youth group or small group once a week and then church on Sundays. We need to yearn, long for, and crave Jesus, and that takes effort!

If we truly think that when we get to Heaven, God will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," then we are already falling into the lies that Satan is feeding us. We cannot ever think that we have done enough for the Kingdom. If you have helped to lead 10,000 people to Christ, that is amazing, but there are still 6 billion more to go. Our work, our race, our war is never over, until we meet our great Creator. I have said this before, but this is not a way to get into Heaven, and get Jesus. This is the outpouring of our love for Jesus if we have truly received Him.

Followers of Christ, let's not ever become complacent in our faith. This is a war, and we need to fight wars - not against people, but against sin. If anybody had to fight for this faith, if anybody yearned, craved, strove, put sin to death, or any other strong words you can find in the Bible, it was Jesus. We follow Christ, so let's be like Christ, and let's do it for God's glory.