This attitude is actually Anti-christ. Christianity - real Jesus following Christianity - is an extreme sport - and played properly it WILL kill you!
Everything, EVERYTHING about following Jesus is extreme and over the top. God himself is extreme. Not sure? Just look at where you live! God did not use any half measures putting this planet and this universe together. Even in the broken down state it is in, we still marvel at it.
(NLT)Romans 1:20
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
And look at the passionate statements made by Jesus and the apostles:
(NLT)Matthew 16:24-26
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. [25] If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. [26] And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
This is HUGE. Can you imagine the impact that statement would have had on you as a follower of Jesus in those days?
(NLT)Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
In Paul's day, athletes ran their races completely naked. Paul is likening our run with Jesus (we have got to stop calling it a walk!) to these athletes that would literally throw off EVERYTHING to run. How extreme is that?
Jesus hates mediocrity. Yes HATES. It makes him want to vomit.
(NLT)Revelation 3:15-16
"I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! [16] But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth!
First of all, this is not a statement about the general human condition, Jesus is not saying here that He would prefer people to be completely switched off to him than lukewarm. This message was to Christians, members of the Body of Christ. Laodicea had two nearby towns. On one side was Hierapolis, which had hot mineral springs that were said to have medicinal properties. On the the other side was Colossae, with pure cold springs. Poor old Laodicea was fed by an aqueduct that would bring water to the town that was tepid and polluted. Jesus is saying he hates "middle ground". This again is a call by Christ to be extreme in how we live and follow him.
Let me say it categorically - the LAST thing you or I or any other believer needs to do is calm down. On the contrary, we should be allowing ourselves to be so swept away and so passionately entangled with Jesus that we become totally consumed with Him and by Him. C.S. Lewis put it beautifully in "Mere Christianity":
"The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the one you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours."
The real challenge for us as comfortable Aussie Christians, is to genuinely find that passion for Jesus. The passion that you find among believers all through the third world and in places of extreme persecution. Our comfort has lulled us to sleep. We are like a man in a Mercedes driving down the road and falling asleep at the wheel. All the modern comforts and conveniences and assists have caused him to forget he is hurtling along the road at 110 kph in a tin can with a petrol bomb strapped to it! In the same, we are hurtling through life at an incredible pace - though from where we are sitting at the moment it may seem slow. We are drifting off to sleep, but careening towards a head-on with eternity.
We need to wake up! We need others beside us that are not going to sing us a lullaby but instead are going to goad us and challenge us and stir us up. Don't come to me if you want comfort. All you are going to hear from me is "further", "higher", "faster", "deeper", "longer", "hotter", "harder", "stronger", "more"! If you have friends that are telling you any less than this - it is time to change friends. Instead, lets "build each other up" as we are encouraged in the scriptures to do. Create a spiritual thermal that will draw others up to higher levels in Jesus.
Honestly, we haven't even begun to see extreme yet. I want to find it. I am aching to find it. I want to experience the full force of his love in and power through my life - without restraint. What about you?
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