Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The "All or Nothing" Christian

I realized something tonight...

Many people struggle with what it means to be a Christian. Both Christians and Non-Christians alike have stereotypes of "Christians." Lets look at one "Christian" you may have heard of:

The "All or Nothing" Christian

"Pam" reads her Bible 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week. Mondays and Fridays she attends Bible Studies. Wednesdays she teaches Youth Group. Tuesdays she helps with maintenance around the church. Thursdays she plays on her church's softball team. She spends Saturday nights preparing lessons for the class she teaches before church Sunday mornings. Pam attends the 11 o'clock church service. After church she goes out to lunch with the her church friends. Pam has been on countless mission trips and is first to sign up for ministry outreach events in her community. She keeps a stash of Tracks in her purse to give to anyone who'll stop and listen.

I was talking to Ryan tonight about the "All or Nothing" Christian and I realized why so many get burnt out or rebel from being this type of "Christian". They have lost sight of Jesus. Seems ironic, I know, but hear me out.

I believe that we were created to commune with God. We are his creation. When stop communing we  start wondering, "What's the point?" I'm guilty of this whenever I spend too much time learning about God and not enough time with God.

Look at it this way: Imagine a woman who bought groceries for two, cooked dinner every night for her husband, made him a sack lunch in the morning, washed his clothes, and purchased presents for his birthday. But one day she realized that the groceries were spoiling, the dinners left untouched, the sack lunches never taken, the clothes never worn, and the presents never opened.  She stopped everything. She swore she would never go back to living that way ever again. Did she ever have a husband? She was living as if she had. She finally realized that there was no one. The was no relationship. "Husband" was just an empty word she sacrificed so much for.  

*If you're an "All or Nothing" Christian, I would like to encourage you to first, commune with God. Make sure your activities are an outpouring of something greater: your relationship with God. Don't just hang out with Christians. Jesus didn't. God created this world, enjoy the many things it has to offer and get to know the people in it.

*If you USED to be an "All or Nothing" Christian, I would like to encourage you to start communing with God. Don't give up. Being a Christian has nothing to do with how many "activities" you can cram into your schedule or how long you read your Bible. Jesus didn't just hang out with the church folk, so neither do you! God created YOU- you're unique! He also created this world and wants you to enjoy it. Jesus did. Don't forsake Him because you feel like you can't do it all- none of us can! Just talk to Him.