Christianity Light

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Cor 6:19,20 ESV

It’s a clear and obvious temptation to just coast the life we have, either in or out of faith. But then a verse like this one comes along to remind us that our salvation should not, and must not be taken lightly or with a shrug of the shoulders.

Imagine for a moment that your wife or girlfriend goes without some things of her own, to buy you a nice, expensive, Rolex watch. Instead of looking after it, you don’t. The face gets scratched, you drop it into the toilet, and it keeps getting mislaid. I wonder how your gift looks in the eyes of the giver now? Was it worth the expense and the other things that were done without? You would have to forgive the giver for thinking it wasn’t worth the effort.

We can never earn our salvation. It has been granted us by a loving God and all we have to do is accept the gift. But do you really think that God wants us to stay in the mire of our sin? I don’t think so. We ought to cherish our priceless gift, and show how thankful we are by our lifestyle change. We are bought with a price and it cost the Saviour the cross, and the heartache of the Father forsaking Him while He hung there.

Shouldn’t we strive to live a Christian life deserving of the love of an eternally Holy God by becoming an example to others who look on us to see if there is any difference between who we were, and the person we are now? Or do we play the ‘Christianity Light’ card in the hope that it will be enough, and since we didn’t deserve it anyway, what possible difference could it make? A final thought: We take good care of our earthly gifts, so shouldn’t we care even more for the eternal gift of salvation which cost Jesus so dearly? It’s a clear choice.

Minority

Do you ever feel that your voice isn’t heard and that your life or opinion are not valued or important? I understand, but as I thought some more about it, I discovered that minorities can and do make a difference, some for good, but mostly for ill. Let’s take a few minority groups and see what difference they are making.

• The LGBTI group are less than 2% of the UK population, but speak with a loud and confident voice, and we all take notice. Governments change laws for them.

• Gay Marriage supporters have forced their way into the laws of the land because we have been convinced that they are victimised because they are not considered equal.

• Grown men who want to use girls and ladies toilets, and vice versa. Another minority who wants to be heard and we listen! Laws are being changed.

• Muslim fanatics who kill, rape and maim in the name of their chosen god, causing grief and terrorism across the world. They are not representative of mainstream muslims, however misguided, but still cause us to take notice of them.

• Voters in a referendum for National Independence who lose in a democratic process, but still loudly shout in disbelief “We were robbed”. Another referendum is planned.

• Court systems that protect the minority lawbreakers, and ignore the victims.

• Do you need to be reminded that some world leaders were in a minority, and yet did much evil. Despots like, Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, Hitler to name a few. It should be remembered that they were ALL atheists!

Armed with this very incomplete listing of how much attention a minority can get, and the changes they can achieve, what kind of noise should the Christian church make? After all, Christians and Christianity have now been sidelined in most areas of society, and are viewed as an official minority. It’s about time the mouse roared without apologising!