There is a cost to those who follow Christ....there must be. Hebrews 13:3 was a staple memory verse decades ago...."Remember the prisoners as if chained with them-those who are mistreated-since you yourselves are in the body also." (NKJV) I would recite this to myself back then....but in the busyness that I perceive the day to be today....I have mistakenly let that verse languor in the back of my mind....but not what that verse is telling us....that we in America may live as though in the lap of luxury....with more food than we can justify....and activities that can fill any voids in our life....and this as tens of millions of....if we truly believe how God's Word describes them....brothers and sisters in Christ....suffer in many ways....even unto death!
I posted the other day on the Philippines...as they work hard for the necessities of life....whereas I might complain that the supermarket is always out of thin-sliced bacon. Others are being burned alive in Nigeria....while I complain that I picked up six pounds over the holidays. Has the word....'reset'....been chosen as any dictionary's 'word of the year?' It's being used all the time today. It may be a better word for Christians to use than 'reformation' or 'revival'....for those words have been weakened by overuse.
Reset...."To set again or anew" according to Merriam-Webster. I would think that humility and soberness would be required for a reset....an admittance that we have fallen away before we call out to the Lord...."Wilt thou not revive us again"?' The following was only a preface to a post earlier this year:
Dealing on a daily basis with both a collapsing church and a collapsing nation does not bode well for smooth sailing in one's life. It's not good enough to just rant on about how bad Progressivism is for America....or how terrible Liberalism is for the church. That's the easy part of this whole mess.....and that's where most conservatives have settled in. It's when you go beyond those obvious enemies to the deceivers or the lazy or the ignorant in our own camp that the waters get rough and the winds blow fiercely. Whereas in the former....the 'cost of discipleship' can almost make one a hero....for everyone rails against Progressivism....but in the latter....where we look inwardly....one can become a pariah in one's own family and church and community. The former is more a badge....whereas in the latter it can be more of a wound.
