Fluffly, Fakey Christianity - Is Lukewarm Christianity Even a Thing?

          When Jesus took up the cross, it was him saying to us, "Look, I love you more than I love myself. I am willing to go to any end to love you. I will die to show you my love." So when Luke 9:23 tells us that following Christ means taking up our cross daily, it doesn't mean put on your holier-than-thou attitude and try to do the right thing and don't forget to say "You're in my prayers," when something bad happens. I don't know who started this whole idea that Christianity is easy, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say that that person was related to the person that started the idea that being a Christian just requires attending Christmas Eve and Easter service and having a Jesus-endorsing bumper sticker on your car. Revelations addresses these types of people pretty harshly: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." (Rev. 3:15-16) I don't know about you, but being spit out of the mouth of God doesn't sound very appealing to me.
          I'd venture to say that there is no such thing as lukewarm Christianity. That's a big statement to make, especially since we just established that it's possible to be lukewarm, so obviously it's a 'thing.' What I mean is this: if you're ambivalent about the Creator of the Universe, you obviously don't know Him. You see, if you truly know the Lord, you either hate him or love him. There is no in between. If a person can see what God has done for us and not love Him with a white-hot passion, they hate Him. Satan knows who God is. He knows everything Jesus has done for us. Still, he hates God. 
          If you claim to be a Christian, yet it has no effect on your life, you're not a lukewarm Christian. You're not a Christian at all. You don't know Christ, yet you claim His name. The word Christian literally means one who is of Christ. The Bible warns against judging others, but it also says that we need to speak the truth in love. I can say to you in all honesty that I have claimed the name of Christ without knowing Him. Before I let Christ change my life, I knowingly sinned against the God I had heard about, and I didn't care. Yet I called myself a Christian, I went to church, and I was generally nice to people. But that's not what being a Christian is about. I don't want this to seem as though I'm just ripping into people who aren't passionate about Christ, I just want people to wake up and see the truth that I've found.

          Get a mental picture of what carrying a literal cross looks like. If you've seen the movie Passion of the Christ, you have an idea. If not, here's a snippet from the part where the actor who played Jesus is carrying the cross. This is clearly just a movie, but this happened in real life. It was bloody, it was agonizing, and it was done out of love. Jesus had already been beaten at this point. Let that sink in. He had been flogged, he had the crown of thorns tearing into his head, and he was getting weak from blood loss. This is why He couldn't carry it alone. But after all of this, Jesus still stumbled up the road with the cross they were going to crucify him on. This is what true, passionate love looks like.
          So thankfully, we don't have to physically carry a cross and be crucified on it every day because that price has been paid, once and for all. What we do need to do as believers is to die to ourselves every day. I hear that so much and I think it's become part of that Christianese that confuses non-believers and glazes over the Word for believers. Dying to ourselves literally means denying ourselves the desires of our sinful nature. We literally kill them every day by refusing to put those desires over our desire to serve Christ. The things that we think we want, we refuse to indulge in. And it's not always just a battle against our actions, often times it's a battle against our thoughts and our hearts. It's not enough to just refrain from physically partaking in sinful actions, but we have to filter our thoughts and keep them focused on our task: spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, and leading a life as one who has been redeemed. 
          You don't have to carry your cross alone; Jesus couldn't carry his cross alone. His body gave out, and Simon had to help him. To truly carry our cross is a burdensome task. Reach out to someone you trust to help strengthen you, and you'll find yourself able to do the same for them. We are creatures made to interact with one another. To share in joys and sorrows, and to build each other up in our faith. Don't try to do this on your own.

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians 15:58

God, your people want more of you. You see their hearts and you see their struggle. You see that they don't want to let go of the things that tear them down. Show them how much greater You are. Let us be a people that boldly proclaims that You are far greater than any other. Let us take up our cross and make the decision to truly follow you every single day of our lives. The road to heaven is steep and tiresome, but You walk beside us every step of the way. Let us never become weary in doing Your will. This is my earnest prayer, that Your people would be on fire for you again, Lord. 

In Trusting Hope,
Amen.

(P.S. - The song "Courageous" by Casting Crowns totally goes with this post and is just an awesome song in general so you should listen to it! And it's right there. All you have to do is click. *sigh* Americans do love convenience.)