On Becoming a Christ Follower
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God."—Romans 3:23
Many times the walls that we find in life that separate and imprison us are the walls created by our own disobedience as we are deceived, participate in, and cooperate with the evil that surrounds us. To say that we alone are responsible for the operation and oppression of evil in our lives is probably too simple and gives us too much credit, for as the apostle Paul states, there are powers and principalities in this world that are far greater than we even have within our own capacities to recognize. The truth that the Bible tells is that those evils that we participate in if we do not guard our heart will make a home in us, and grow in us and will eventually use us for purposes for which we were not created. The truth about evil is that it is a complex, powerful, and a fearful reality in our world that we, the church, along with Christ, have chosen to take seriously. We see its effects all too often and in so many ways and it takes great discernment and spiritual fortitude to break the power of evil in our lives. Through faith in Christ we have found the power to overcome and to cleanse our lives of these evils, so that we may be made whole through the goodness of God and reflect his glory and peace as we offer ourselves in a sacrifice of praise to the world around us. And so with the apostle Paul we confess that we are a body of God’s people, a union of souls who seek to be cleansed and purged of the evil that uses and abuses and devalues the life within us, so that we may offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, and in so doing we worship in spirit and in truth.
These truths are not some great mystery and are often found to be not very far our reach. We only need to reflect on the way the world is, and be honest about the lack of control that we have in our lives as our hearts have often been led astray and imprisoned by the many things that enslave us and use us. Even through our own understanding we know the truth that there are things that we have let control our lives that are meant for our destruction. It is only when the spirit of God is put back in charge of our lives that we can be cleansed of these powers that are beyond our control. And this understanding is made clear to us as we read the truth about it in the word of God. And this truth that will save us is usually not very far from us. It takes faith and courage to give one’s life back to God in the face of so much evil. But the truth is that God gives us the opportunity to be set free from those evil powers that imprison us so that we can take back our lives through the power of Christ. We can be saved from the destructive forces that we face and this life, and saved from death and given back the gift of life eternity.
It was the apostle Paul who coined the phrase and characterized the Christian life as a “walk”. We follow Christ and walk with him, and we know that Christ himself is spirit driven and even struggled near the end of his life with what the Spirit of God asked of him. This passion experience is one that has oft been repeated for many Christians who struggle to obey the spirit of God. But this Christian walk, (or pilgrimage or journey as it has been variously described), leads us all to the cross of Christ. A place where we see modeled before us what it means to understand the power and glory of God, and where the power of God is most clearly demonstrated through the weakness of the flesh.
The New Testament is very clear about the fact that the early church remembered the passion of Christ through the breaking of bread as often as they met. We are a local body of Christ, our name on our church reads the “Church at Heaton”, but when we sat down around the table prepared and hosted by our Lord Jesus Christ, the universal and eternal character of the church is most clearly recognized. For it is together with the church worldwide and with the apostles and the saints who have went before us that we share this meal. It is what some have called a foretaste of glory divine, a slice of heaven on earth. A place where the wall of sin that separates people from God and each other, where social injustices, and economic inequalities are eradicated, where past grievances and the guilt and shame excludes people from the fellowship of God are forgiven and to be forgotten. The early church often called it the time of the eighth day that God created, an experience where space and time collapse and all is eternal, where together we participate in Christ death with all whom God has called from the four corners of the world, together with the saints that gone on before us. What a glorious picture. What a meal, what a feast, what a celebration of our victory over sin through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. You can begin your walk today through meeting Jesus at the cross and participating in his death through Christian baptism.
