Fully Committed Followers of Christ

 August 31, 2024

Saturday

I ride a bicycle to work. That gives me lots of opportunities to observe common driving practices. I must know these practices or I will be hit by a vehicle. For example: The common driving practice is to look left without ever looking right when taking a right turn. That means if I come up on the sidewalk on the right, I must wait for that person to turn or I will be hit because the thought to look right never to that person. I also know that almost no one stops before taking a "right on red." About fifty percent of the drivers never use their turn signals. Nearly everyone speeds. And texting while driving is just as prevalent as it was before it was made illegal. When I have pointed these things out (lots of drivers have their windows open) I have been met with extreme ire because they are kings and queens while behind the wheel and mere peasants on bicycles are forgetting their place when they point out the law that these people seem to be above. How did we get to this point?

It appears that people believe that nothing commonly practiced should be punished. If that is the case, then as we get worse, we will get worse. And by the way, there will never be enough police to change this because we have always depended on a majority of the people complying with the law. No, Big Brother, can't be everywhere. At least, until he is.

In the past, people were stimulated to good works by those who attended church. It was awkward staying home on Sundays when all your neighbors went to church. It was embarrassing for a couple to live together without being married. Things like this excluded people from society. They were odd.

When Christians stopped acting like Christians, this all changed. Church attendance has dropped to a point where it is more normal to stay home on Sundays than to go to church. Divorce is just as common in or outside the church. People in the church act like those outside the church. They see nothing wrong with bringing the world into the church. The Word of God is no longer attracting people to church. People can be regular attenders and be unchanged because they do not give up the ways of world. 

Christians who follow the Lord have no option of acting like the world. It is simply impossible to follow two paths at the same time. While people may know that in the physical world, they seem to ignore it in the spiritual world. They want to say they are following the Spirit while following the world.

Galatians 5:17 (ESV) ¹⁷  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

 So, what are we to do? We must be fully committed followers of Christ if we are to see our own world change. We must leave no room for the flesh. We must encourage others to walk with the Lord. It must become the expectation for those who are called Christians rather than the exception. We must be honest in our sins, complete in our confession and repentance, and resolute in allowing the Spirit to give us renewed minds. All of this is to change what is normal. It should be normal for Christians to fully follow the Lord.

It is a miracle of God to see people become devoted to Him. It is an act of God when followers live such a way that others follow their example.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) ²⁴  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.