What if?

I am reading the book Honestly: Really Living What We Say We Believe by Johnnie Moore.  It starts out really challenging you in where you are in your faith journey.  He really hits us hard in the opening chapter.  He questions why we do what we do, why we go to church, and just who are we are devoted to?

A few quotes …

“We worked so hard to look good that somehow we neglected to actually live what we believed to be true.”

“Christianity was our culture, the core of our society.  It was our social club and our clique.  We went to church to see and to be seen by others.  Our social circle was like any other – it just happened to be a religious one.”

He goes on to say that somehow his family didn’t know that this was all wrong. 

“Christianity was only our culture, not the subject of our devotion.  It was like a fad with a long shelf life.”

He says they were fooling themselves and every one around them.  He also indicates that he feels churches are full of these kinds of people.

He refers to his families’ Christianity being one big PR Stunt after another.  Fight like cats and dogs all week – even in the car on the way to church and then paste the fake smile on and walk into church like a big happy family.

He has had a hard time moving past the way he was brought up.  Now he has a different view of things…

He goes on to say that now “He believes that true Christianity is powerful, it is not laced with hypocrisy, and it is alive.  It is stunning, expansive, relevant, and life changing.  It’s not fake…. It’s the kind of faith that isn’t measured by how many church services you attend of how many verses you can recite.  It is the kind of faith that strikes a chord of love and affection in your heart.”

He makes a lot of challenges at the end of the chapter.  Things like this …

What if we decided that to the best of our ability, we would no longer live a hypocritical, halfhearted Christianity?

What if we decided not to be lukewarm?

What if we took all the energy we spend in doubt and frustration and used it to trust and believe?

What if we chose to run toward God even when our disappointment threatens to chase us away from him?

What if we decided to actually live what we believe to the extent that other people’s destinies were changed?

Lots to think about ….