I know it sounds drastic, but we really don’t have any need for Him.
Or at least, we are not living like we need Him.
Millions of people go about their lives without knowing God, and they are just fine. They have lots of food to eat. They drive shiny cars. They wear designer clothes. They have lots of friends, and they always seem to be doing such fun things with those friends. They raise their kids to live good, moral lives. Sometimes, they might even give back to their community by donating to charity or volunteering at the local soup kitchen. And to top it off, most of their Christian friends live similar lives, except the Christians go to church on Sunday and pray before eating meals.
This is what we are up against. God is making little to no difference in many people’s lives, even people who think they are following Him. We focus too much on “saving” people, and not enough on what people should do once they are saved, so their lives stay pretty much the same because they don’t realize the magnitude of the power Christ can wield in their lives.
In class today, the term counter-cultural was mentioned. That is our calling. Christians are not meant to be contented, average members of society. I don’t think God wants us to live lives of misery, but I’m not at all convinced that he wants us to be comfortable.
In order for us to make a difference in the world, we must be different from the world. The worldly things that matter to others should be meaningless to us, because we have something so much better. I believe that would be much more meaningful for non-believers — to see a community that so believes in their God that they are willing to deny themselves the joys of this world (those things non-believers find most important, like material possessions and successful lives). By throwing off the things of the world, we are showing that something far more important exists. I truly believe people will be attracted to that, and will want to embrace the difficulty and hardships of a life with true meaning.
– Diana C.
I think that actions need to speak louder than words when we are talking about being counter cultural. If I were to say to a non-believer that they need to give up this and this and this to follow Christ…I am not so sure that it would sound too great. It is only when we see the joy overflowing from a person who is actively living out this lifestyle that we see this attraction.