As kind of an sequel to my last post (Shine), I was reading and thinking the other day and it occurred to me what the consequence of living a "dim life" really is. To say we follow Christ and yet live a dim life is really a dichotomy in terms that people that don't follow Christ recognize. People honestly expect something to be different about our lives, many perhaps even hope there's something different about our lives. When there is not, it not only says something about us but, unfortunately, it says something about the God we follow. In his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard says it this way, "How many people are radically and permanently repelled from The Way by Christians who are unfeeling, stiff, unapproachable, boringly lifeless, obsessive, and dissatisfied?" The point is that our dim lives not only make following Christ look bad but it makes leading a sinful life look good!
Therein lies all of the dangers of leading a dim life. First, as Paul says of the Jews in Romans 2:24, God's name is looked down upon as a consequence of our actions. Second, our actions actually make sin more attractive to the world. And lastly, but certainly not least, we loss out on the quality of life Jesus modeled for us and said was available to us today.
My plan is to take the rest of the summer to think about how attractive God looks to the people that know my life. Do the people that see me everyday grow in their interest of the God that motivates my lifestyle, or do they grow in their apathy of my religion? These are tough questions for sure, but God forbid we ever make something this beautiful so ugly - that would be the ultimately tragedy.
3 comments :
If you try to ask, "What glorifies God the most in my life? What could I possibly do in my life that would most effectively point to God as the source of my actions?" it can be tough to answer. I don't have it, unfortunatly, and I thought LT would do that for me. But that's what I get for thinking LT will do something FOR me when I probably should be thinking in terms of what I can do with LT. I'll come up with some conclusions later, I'm sure.
exactly! to your credit, JD, I would tell you that you've realized something most Christians never figure out (or at least want to accept). It's that spirituality is primarily by nature a proactive thing. God pursues us but we also have to pursue him! Nothing characterizes a good relationship more than this.
Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.
-James 4:8
Just came to mind when I was reading both of your posts. It's one of God's promises that I've been standing on lately.
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