the trouble with fairtytales

oh, if we could all have the fairytale life. the princess finds her prince and they live happily ever after with no worries, no problems, or concerns in the world! Seeing Azariah dressed up takes me back to those wishes we make as little kids. Wishing on stars, searching for frogs (to kiss, BLEH!), and so on and so on. Truth is, those aren't reality. How I wish I could give my baby that fairytale ending, but the truth is, she will face more persecution than me if she decides to follow Christ. I have been reading about the disciples and the book RADICAL by David Platt and true discipleship. It is nothing like our American-ized version of Christianity. He said we have to be willing to give up everything to follow Him. Everything. We have become too comfortable in our everyday relationship with Christ. Most of the world are fighting for their very lives just to hear these radical words. How sad is it that we can't be hungry enough for His Word to even read it every day. Our relationship isn't just something we do...it's something we have to live out. Matthew 10 outlines everything a disciple will face: do nothing to gain profit, you will be persecuted, you will be hated, you might be killed, you will have to leave family, and you will have to carry the cross....you will have to carry your possible death every single day. But do we really? I know I probably don't. But I am becoming more and more broken to want to be totally and unreservedly sold-out to Jesus. I will be going through Platt's book and just highlighting some amazing revelations.

Jesus was calling them to abandon themselves. They were leaving certainty for uncertainty, safety for danger, self-preservation for self-denunciation. In a world that prizes promoting oneself, they were following a teacher who told them to crucify themselves. And history tells us the result. Almost all of them would lose their lives because they responded to his invitation.

We are giving into the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist Him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.  A nice middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, He loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid dangerous altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream.

...And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.