Sometimes it just feels like hardwork never pays off. Especially in school. But then again, it wouldn’t be called hard work if it wasn’t difficult, right? Maybe the fruits of my labour will show up in another form, rather than just marks.
There is too much “timidity” among Christians on every campus I visit. There is a fear of what others think…and it is justified by an “I don’t want to offend others” mentality. It is compromise. The national average of Christian’s on each university is 4% and more than 90% of those 4% come from Christian backgrounds.
In other words, Christians are mainly reaching Christians on campus. If we don’t see revival now, we will have a post-Christian generation tomorrow.
It’s time for radical Christianity…or should I say “normal Christianity” to be released on
this generation with power.- Jaeson Ma
Sad reality. Do you believe in the faith you hold? Make a stand then.
This post aint gonna be polite, and I wont try to sugar coat the blunt truth I want to get across.
I see too many so-called Christians who claim to follow Jesus. But do they even read their Bibles? Do they even pray? Do they even outreach? Jesus never preached that it was His desire to see a bunch of followers sit and do nothing to further His Kingdom. God desires to be glorified, and when we sit around complaining God hasn’t prospered us, it really makes me wonder if they’ve got the right faith. I’d even go so far to saying that they arn’t real Christians, for the scripture says very clearly that we are to “die to ourselves and take up his cross daily and follow him.” (Luke 9:23) There is no in-betweens, and if they hope to live a mediocre Christian life and enter the Kingdom of heaven, they’re in for a big surprise. Because I’m pretty sure that they’ve got the wrong idea. Nothing is luke-warm with God. (Rev 3:16)
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
- Phil 1:21
I hate when people refuse to spend time with God in prayer, then commence to spew out a bunch of garbage later complaining that God never answers. God is not a vending machine where you insert “prayers” to collect your requests. If so, your idea of prayer needs to be revisted. And reading the Bible is not an obligation, but rather it should be a place where you go to seek the solid truth about who God is. It is not a dry read, and it’s really a shame that people dont even take the time to read whats inside to affirm the things they hear. (It’s even worse when people mix verses together — paraphrase and preach/mutilate the truth)
But I digress, what I’m trying to say is that when we signed those little cards proclaiming that we believed in Jesus, or prayed the acceptance prayer - we didn’t choose to believe in some weaksauce faith where we just sit around and do nothing. We didn’t embark on a gospel of prosperity, where we just expect good things in life, but rather quite the opposite. We are to be God’s servants. We are to be different from this world, we are to run upstream when things are going the other way. We are to shine in a world of darkness. There’s really no easy route to follow Jesus, but just cause it isn’t easy, doesn’t mean it’s not rewarding.
Where do you draw your motivation in following Christ? Is it from God? Do you know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Is Jesus-Christ the chief cornerstone of your life? And what does Salvation mean to you? Does the Gospel compell you to share with others? Cause if it doesn’t, then you really ask yourself. “Do I have the right Gospel?” Although, I do believe in the perseverance of the Saints, where once saved - always saved. It’s just as easy for me to challenge you to think if you actually have the right beliefs. Because when God denies you at the gates of heaven, you better not cry to anybody else.
One thing my generation fails to do, is ask questions. And eventually when you ask enough questions, you’ll arrive at the right ones, and find the right answers.
So I challenge you, take what I’ve said here and really evaluate who God is to you. Is He just a God of love? Or is he more than that? And what is the Gospel? Cause if you can’t come up with an answer to those questions like it’s your life (which it should be, literally) then you’ve got some soul-searching to do.
Here are my thoughts on large evangelistic mission events and how they’ve evolved over the years. I guess, at a first glance, I did think it was an excellent way to give us (Christians) a chance to reach out to others - and perhaps an excuse invite them to learn more about the faith that we hold.
But it’s clear that it becomes awkward (for the new comers) very quickly, because as soon as the worship set starts people fling their arms up into the air and start singing in unison to songs that they barely even know. It’s kind of intimidating. We advertise these events as “coffeehouses” or “shows” only to have it turn into something else. It’s almost like we have a hidden agenda, and it kind of defeats the purpose of running these kind of things. We attach strings to everything - “You can have free food, only if you listen to what we have to say for an hour”
And even more so, I don’t think anyone signs-up to attend one of these events expecting to hear a speaker preach at them for close to 40 minutes at the end of the venue. I think I’d feel tricked out of my time if that happened to me. But hey! At least there’s free food, and I guess that makes up for lost time. (honestly..)
However, I do agree there are strong points to E&M initiatives. It does serve as an amazing way to:
1) reach the nominal Christians that have backsliden over the years
2) unite the fellowship that runs these things
But is that really the goal for doing this? Is it to just reach the nominal Christians? Is it to edify the fellowship? What about the larger demographic? The people that have truly never even heard about Christianity, or considered it. How do we outreach to them?
And that is why I don’t see these evangelistic mission events as a huge success, mainly because it doesn’t even come close to the effectiveness of a consistent evangelistic lifestyle. A lifestyle that constantly seeks to further God’s kingdom on earth. Sure it’s a great idea, but it isn’t for everyone, and there are some key realizations that I’ve made as well. And that is not everybody fits in a fellowship, not everybody fits in a Church. But even though that is true, it doesn’t mean that they can’t find God outside these places. It’s up to us to go out there and do something about it. It’s up to us, who embody the body of Christ’s Church, to go out there and make disciples of all nations. To show people who God is. We’ve been designed each different from each other, and we each have our own pockets of friends. It’s up to us to reach those who we can! We don’t need to pull people inside a Church in order for them to be “saved.” But rather, it is up to us to go out there and redeem them. Grace does not lie within the four walls of a church building or a fellowship.
Jesus never commissioned us to horde people inside a centralized location, but rather he told us to go out!
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 18: 18 - 20
We should be out in this world, so that people can relate to us, and vice versa. I’m not trying to come off as a basher of E&M events, cause they do have their good points! But I’d like to emphasize that there is a right time for everything. A time to go outwards and also inwards. But if nothing has stuck through this entire read, remeber this: evangelism is not to be contained, therefore go out and make disciple of all nations.
Live a lifestyle that reflects what Jesus has commissioned us to do, and dont neglect it.
A wise man was walking along the beach one evening and saw a little boy throwing starfish that had been washed ashore by the tide into the sea.
He thought the boy was silly in trying to save the starfish, as he knew it was impossible to throw every single one of the starfish back into the sea, with the tides washing them up.
The man walked right up to the boy and asked him why he was trying to save the starfish. “You see sir; the starfish would die if they are left on the shore. They need to be in the sea in order to live,” answered the boy with all the innocence of a child.
“But son, how are you going to save all of them? Every time you put one back, another would be washed up. It doesn’t matter to them, son.” The boy picked up a starfish, looked at the man and said, “But sir, it matters to this one.”
After saying that, he threw the starfish back into the sea.