You can't pick and choose what parts of the Gospel you live your life in accordance to. I tried for a really long time and all I ever felt were feelings of complete unfulfillment and dissatisfaction.
It seems really easy to write off Jesus' life here on earth and focus on the lie that He doesn't actually understand anything we're going to. It's a different society, we have to adapt, right? Wrong.
Jesus faced many trials and temptations just as we do. He was a human. A real human, with real feelings. He once breast fed from His mother, there was a time He didn't know how to walk or talk, He wept at the thought of dying. Not just dying, but suffering. Yet, He still sacrificed His life for those of us who continue to live a life against His cause. In 1 Peter 3:18, it says "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit."
It's hard to be different. For fear of judgement. For fear of standing out. For fear of being weird.
So, what am I saying here?
Stop feeding into the lies society and the world have spoon fed us. Realize that there is an urgency to spread the Gospel and that we can't sit around and wait for other people to do it. As Christians, our job is to spread the good news throughout the whole world. Our job is also to be kind to others. Yes, to be kind. I think there is a fine line that people have blurred. We all sin. We often live in our sin knowingly. Does that mean that we are undeserving of Christ's love? Absolutely not. So, why should we label someone else as undeserving? Not to say that we should continue down a path of negligence. 1 Peter 3:15 says it best: "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."
Don't fall into the trap of the watered down Gospel. Be bold.
How sad would it be to never hear of Christ's love in all its potency? I don't want a watered down Gospel. I want a strong, in my face, knocks me to my knees Gospel. That is what Christ suffered for. The Father in that Gospel is one that I want to know. He's the one that desires me, a messy, hypocritical, secret sinning being, to know Him.
How amazing is that?
I understand why people are constantly choosing the world over Christ.
The watered down version of Christ fails in comparison to the potent Savior He truly is.
Why wouldn't want to share of His true greatness? The fact that we have been redeemed. We were once dead, but we are now alive through Christ. He loves us in spite of our messy baggage.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5
Do you know the watered down Christ who had long hair, wore sandals, and was really nice to a bunch of people, or do you know the Christ who bore your sin so you could have a relationship with God, the one who never abandons you, the one who knows you better than you know yourself, and the one who has already beaten the enemy?
