Recently I watched a documentary that someone recommended to me. Called "Furious Love," this documentary chronicles a team of believers traveling the globe in order to spread the love of Christ by demonstrating it to the lost. They encounter the demon-possessed in Africa, prostitutes in Thailand, witches in Salem and more, all in an effort to combat the cover of darkness by shining God's Light.
I'll admit, some things in the film made me uncomfortable, but that doesn't make the things that happen in it any less real. I think one reason some of these things made me uncomfortable is because I wasn't used to seeing things like that done.
Let me tell you, it is absolutely amazing to see God work in unfathomable ways. I highly encourage you to watch this documentary.
But seeing this film also woke me up to the reality that in a lot of ways our Americanized version of Christianity is watered down. Like politics, certain things in it are diluted to make it more palatable to the mainstream.
So many times the American Church is oblivious to many things going on around us, outside of our own comfortable little "Christian bubbles." Things seem great in our own little personal, pious world...but if we were to venture out into the darkness, we would find a decaying world in desperate need of a Savior. And so many times these dying souls are begging to hear the name of Jesus, yet we are perfectly content with sitting in the pews, hands in our pockets, humming along to "Amazing Grace."
If God's grace is so amazing (which it is!) then why aren't we sharing it with everybody with whom we come into contact?
I talked about the movie making me uncomfortable at times - this very same "comfort factor" has a lot to do with the problem of Christians and our churches failing to reach out in areas that make us a little queasy inside. As a general rule, we're afraid to step outside our comfort zones when it comes to anything - but especially when it comes to sharing the Gospel.
And Satan loves it that way.
It would be easy to assume that Evil triumphs in spiritual warfare, given that sin is so rampant and so alluring, and given that we as Christ's warriors are so feeble. We fail. We're scared. We're weak.
But (aha!) we are not the warriors after all. God is the warrior. And he fights with love. And God's love isn't weak.
In fact, the Bible tells us in Romans 5:8:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV)
God's love is so strong, so potent, that he sent his Son to die for us, while we were still sinners. While we were in darkness, God sacrificed his Son so we could have Light. While we were wallowing in the mire, content with our dirty deeds, God allowed his Son to die so we could be washed clean, perfectly purified in His blood.
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NLT)
That's the core of the Gospel. That's the heart and soul of salvation.
We say we know that's true, but do we mean it? Do we believe it? Do we show it?
One of the pastors in the film says that we have made Christianity about meeting requirements. But that's not the message of the Gospel.
What "Furious Love" makes so clear is the fact that it is not up to us as humans to change someone (or even ourselves!), to make him or her (or even ourselves!) "acceptable" in God's sight. It is our duty - and our privilege! - to show to them and share with them the love of Christ. If and when they accept Christ, He will do the changing.
Robby Dawkins, one of the pastors in the film, explains it this way:
"[God says,] 'Love Me, and I'll change you. Love Me, and I'll do all the hard stuff. I just want you coming after Me.'"
We have missed the point. Many times we make Christianity out to be exactly what the legalists of Jesus' time did. We forget about God's grace; we forget that God is Love; we forget that showing this love to others is vitally important to Jesus' message.
We as Christians - we as literal "little Christ"s - should be instruments of His love. We should be bearers of His torch and carry it fearlessly to the darkest corners of our world, our country, our state, our city, our neighborhood, our workplace, our home.
God is love. And it is our responsibility to show that He is love - because there are so many people out there who don't know it.
We each need to live a life that overflows with a love for others that is crazy, consuming, incomprehensible, unconditional, invincible and burning. We need to love others with all that we have in order to show all that He is, capturing the urgency of the task for which God has commissioned all of us.
We need to love fully. fervently. freely. fearlessly....and furiously.
This clip features one of my favorite parts from "Furious Love."
No comments:
Post a Comment