What’s your Normal?

Think about your day to day life. What’s your normal?

My normal? I work from 8:30am-5pm, typically go home after, maybe run some errands, maybe dinner with friends, take care of the dogs, watch a little TV, read some in my Bible, go to bed, and repeat.

Sounds like a pretty typical day right?

So on one of these typical days my roommate and I were watching a show on Netflix called Family Reunion; cute show. On this show the mother in law is going to a Bible study. As I’m watching I’m like oh wow, they are actually showing a Bible study on TV?? We keep watching and the daughter in law says “I find enlightenment yes through Jesus but also through Budda, Muhammad, etc.” At first the women in the Bible study are astonished that she would even suggest another source of truth, but by the end of the episode the mother in law has had a change of heart. She says in the episode that her son told her she was being narrow minded and not open to other possibilities. She then proceeds to say that God would be happy with these prophets and that they were bringing light to the world.

Um….what?????!!!!!

My roommate and I sat in disbelief shaking our heads. 

Now do I think that a Christian should be closed off to any other culture out there? Absolutely not. I think we should be educated about other cultures and religions, in the event we talk to someone of a different belief, we have an understanding of where they are coming from. But I absolutely disagree with calling these other men “prophets sent by God.” 

Hear me when I say, there is going to come a time when the new normal for Christians will be persecution for the Gospel. This is not a time to be playing games with Jesus. Are you willing to be killed for the sake of the Gospel?

Here we are walking around with the freedom to talk about Jesus, while our brothers and sisters in other countries are hiding just to say his name. We are walking around holding onto guilt and pettiness at someone, and Jesus says to forgive. He remembers our sins no more, so why do we hold on? Yet we have brothers and sisters being killed for the faith of the Gospel and we can’t let go of something that someone did to us or have the maturity of humility to ask for forgiveness? 

When this persecution happens it will be defined by those who are fully convinced of God and those playing games with God.

Are you proclaiming to be a Christian? I’ll be honest, right now Christianity is a word that is just thrown around. People say they are Christian yet their lives reflect otherwise, they say they believe in God but clearly go against what the Bible teaches. If you are proclaiming to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are holding the Bible to the utmost authority and not allowing yourself to be swayed by a temptor who says that the ways of the world are better. 

Being a Christian isn’t about doing “good works” or “good deeds” to please God. None of our works are good. We do something because of our love for Christ, not to earn anything with Him. It’s not about being a nice person, or being a good person. It’s about a true defined relationship with Christ, one rooted in the Bible and an understanding that following Christ means you’re willing to trade your desires for the desires of the Lord’s heart. 

Let me ask again.

What is your normal? Does your normal include an urgent understanding of the Bible and how important it is to tell those around you about the Gospel? I hope and pray it does if you are claiming to follow Jesus. Cultivate a greater affection of God than what the tempter is offering you!

  “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

• Hebrews 10:23

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

• James 1:12

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”

• Ephesians 4:14