"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural decent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
The question this verse makes me ask myself is "do I live every day as though I have been given the right to become a child of God, being BORN OF GOD? The short answer is "no". But, why? Why do I not realize that every day is not to be taken for granted, not to be used for my desires and my accomplishments and accolades, but is to be used to live as though I know, that I really know, I am born of God. I think that the meaning of "born of God" gets lost in everyday life. We unfortunately forget what being a part of Christ's crucified body is like. We forget that being dead in our sins makes us alive in Christ, just as the baptism of faith symbolizes in front of our churches as not only a statement of faith, but also as a symbol of commitment that the old is dead and buried with Jesus, and the new has arisen from what used to be our lives lived for ourselves. We have taken an oath of insincerity. Another word for it, and it is a strong word that we also have abandoned in our comfortable salvation experiences, is hypocrisy. Now, please don't assume that I am saying all people who get baptized are hypocrites, because I am not insinuating that idea. I am saying that for a large number of us who call ourselves "Christians" (meaning that we live a life that is manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus himself, in other words: Christlike), have taken the object allowing our adoption into the family of God, the instrument of death used to lead to the salvation of God's people, and we relegate it to something on the level of wallpaper or a flower arrangement on a table. Churches adorn their walls, steeples, bell towers, and choir robes with this cross, and while that's not inherently wrong, we as Christians have become comfortable with the cross. We have taken the centerpiece of our faith and beautified our homes, necklaces, ears, walls, and rear-view mirrors with this symbol, and somewhere in the mix forgotten why we put them there in the first place. When I was in high school, I had a cross necklace made from three nails and some wire that I hung from my rearview mirror in my car. Initially I hung it there to remind me that as I was on my way to school, I had a life to live that emulated the life of Christ, I had a reminder on my way to school, my mission ground at the time, that I was a believer in Christ and I needed to show that to my school. For the first few days, hopefully weeks, I remembered what that symbolized: a life worth living is a life worth dying for. Unfortunately I got used to the necklace swinging there as I hurried to school and probably drove too fast because I was running late sometimes. Emulating Christ, of course, right? Wrong...I didn't completely forget. I was wearing my cleverly worded "Christian" t-shirt that manipulated some regular, everyday slogan that secular America used to advertise its products. As strange as it may sound, this seems directly contrary to one of the first memory verses I ever learned: "do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve of what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will." (Romans 12:2, NIV) I ask myself now, how could I have believed that I wasn't conforming to the world when I was wearing a shirt that at first glance would be mistaken for something else? We get comfortable in our faith, relegate the foundation of our faith as a common decoration, and forget that the cross was used for something extraordinary, for the salvation of the world. While I do not have a problem with people using crosses in their homes or churches decorating the walls, steeples, bell towers, and choir robes with the cross, for it is a beautiful sight to behold. The problem comes when we forget what the cross stands for. It stands for our beautiful Christ, it should serve as a reminder each morning when we see our cross dangling from the rearview mirror that we are fully a part of God's family, born into it by the spirit which resides in our lives after we accept the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on that beautiful, rugged cross. It is a reminder that a life worth living is a life worth dying for, both physically and daily in our spiritual lives. How beautiful the cross of our Wonderful Savior, Jesus!
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