God is not passive. He is a God of miracles, of transformations, of hope. Our God is 'mighty to save.' He is all-powerful and all knowing. Without him there would be nothing: no night sky, no cotton candy wisps, no goodnight kisses. However, looking at today’s Christians…would you know?
I grew up near Albany, New York. For those of you who don’t know, Albany was recently ranked by American Bible Society as the most atheistic region in the United States. Living in such a liberal area, I've grown up knowing it isn't ‘cool’ to have conservative beliefs. I've also learned that it's even less ‘cool’ to be a Christian. To the majority of people I know back home, God is either a hoax or a bigot. I learned to make my faith my own, because it wouldn't be worth all the hardship otherwise.
When I decided to come to Calvin College, I felt blessed to know that, for once in my life, I would be with fellow Christians. Everything I did would be saturated in doctrine and God’s word. What I didn’t realize is that this saturation would do more harm than good.
In Christian communities, we have become so saturated with Christianity that it becomes the air around us; we all know its there, but no one really novels in its presence. We pray before class. We worship twice a week. We have Bible studies galore. We have so much Jesus, that we forget what’s it’s like without him.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the rituals and the routines. We go to chapel because it’s ‘cool.’ We post Instagram photos of the Bible because it’s the ‘Christian thing to do.’ However, in drifting through the routine, we lose the desperation for God.
Instead of going to chapel because we are so incredibly excited about Jesus Christ and all he did, we go because it’s what’s expected of us.
My faith reached that point last year, and I never felt more distant from God. In being surrounded by the faith of others, I had lost mine in the process.
There was no need to seek God, because he was spoon-fed to me on a daily basis.
I began to feel homesick. I missed the candor of a region that has strayed from God's love. In New York, you’re either all-in or you’re out. There’s no reason to put yourself through the teasing and prejudice that happens there if you can avoid it. In fighting for my faith, at least I knew it was my own.
Do people who’ve grown up in the Christian bubble feel that way? Do they know what it's like to have everyone around them constantly tell them their God isn't real? Do they feel the utter sense of depravity and total reliance on God when they’ve never needed to separate their faith from the faith of others?
It's time for Christians to wake up!
God is real and alive and he loves us more than we can imagine. The bread and wine we receive at communion isn’t a ‘nice snack,’ it’s the symbol that Christ died for our sins. It’s time to stop having a spoon fed faith. It’s time to make your faith your own.
When you sing those songs at Church, do you mean them? When you struggle with sin, do you openly share it and ask for help, or do you hide and justify it? It’s not easy to live in the ‘real world,’ away from the Christian bubble and the security that it offers. But God doesn’t want spoon-fed Christians. He doesn't want Christians who piggyback on the faith of others.
God wants warriors. He wants people pursuing him desperately and relentlessly. He wants followers so lost in him that they don't care what those say around them. That’s why we have the armor of God! It’s time to wake up and see the air around us. It's time to see God in everything that we do, and foster a personal relationship with Christ. Stop going through the motions and start relentlessly pursuing your savior. Earnestly seek him and you will find him.
Matthew 7:7
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
