How To Be An Un-Boring Christian

Let me begin with several quick thoughts. First of all, my title is grammatically horrid. Secondly, thanks to all of you who read and commented on my blog. I appreciate all comments, even ones that don’t agree with me. :) Lastly, before I begin this blog you should realize something about me. As I mentioned in my previous blog I am a proud man. However, you should also know that I am extremely stubborn (German), and I don't really care if people agree with what I write or not. Now, the latter two of these may easily be mistaken for pride, though I assure you that they are not. I am working on becoming humble, but I'm quite content with being stubborn until the day I die. :) So, if I come across arrogant or prideful, just dismiss it...it's not personal. I sometimes just get excited about a subject and exaggerate it to make a point. I assure you that I love you as a person, and let's hit up a movie next week, okay?

I would like to apologize for the length of my last post. It was meant to be short, and it was anything but. I will try to be more sensitive in this one, but I will make no promises. The point of this blog is to bring an upside to my last blog. My last post was solely about how American Christians are boring. This blog is about how to not be a boring American Christian, but one on fire for the Jesus Christ. Let me begin by talking about the comments I received.

1) One person said, "Because our culture is so accepting of people's 'religious views', it should give us the courage to be all the more bold in our faith." This is a very interesting thought. With so many new immigrants coming to America, we are becoming a nation of many religions. So much so, that our new president told the American people that, "We are not longer a Christian nation." Breaks my heart. To some extent I agree with the idea of America being open to new religions. Because, we are still a nation with freedom of religion. However, I don't think people have changed all that much in how tolerant they are with different religions. Sitcoms still make fun of different religions, as does regular conversation. I believe the greatest reason that it seems other religions are being "accepted" is because Christianity is being attacked. I don't see how one can argue this. It's evident all over. After all, we are just a bunch of rednecks who "cling to (our) guns or religion." I may be wrong (rare), but I really don't think America is at all accepting of Christians. The problem is, once in a while a movie like "Blindside" comes out which is semi-fair to Christians, and we jump on it as proof that America is tolerant of us. First of all, if you are satisfied with America being just "satisfied" with Christianity, your priorities are way messed up. So is it an advantage that we are religiously free? Not in my opinion. You see, the US is no longer a Christian nation, but our faith is still allowed. We're stuck in a lukewarm bucket of tolerance.

2) Another comment I received mentioned that we should witness in relationships...not in 5 minute "Do you know Jesus" conversations. I completely agree, BUT obviously I won't leave it that easy. If you have an unbelieving friend, he'll see you living a dynamite Christ-like life. He'll like what you have-the peace, the hope, and the love. After a couple of years he may even become a Christian. But what if he dies before your life convinces him? My simple point, a relationship involves talking. So, don't just let your life lead him to the Lord. Tell him about Jesus all the time. Tell him what He's doing in your life. And you better be letting Him do amazing things or you'll be a pathetic witness. But what about those 5 minute "Do you know Jesus" conversations? "Of course not!" you say. After all, what is a bigger turn off than a nerdy kid holding his Bible in the school hallway trying to witness to the basketball point guard? But here's a thought. When that nerdy kid gets to Heaven, what do you think God will tell him?

"You stupid human! He would have believed in Me if you hadn't done that stupid 5 minute witness session!"

I doubt it. I'm thinking more along the lines of "Well done thou good and faithful servant."

The world needs to hear about Jesus, and God can use 5 minute witnessing from nerds.

3) I also received a comment telling me it's actually not about being a rebel or just being different, but about following Jesus, because if we follow Jesus we WILL be different. I'm sorry if you took what I said wrong. That is what I meant. Obviously we don't always have to be rebels. Our nation began as an amazing Christ-following nation. We had major problems too, yes, but we wanted to do the will of God. To rebel from that would be idiotic, stupid, and not at all helpful to Christianity. But we are no longer that same nation. So, following Jesus has BECOME different, almost rebellious. 

4) I got one comment from someone who didn't agree with me at all. Thank you so much for that comment, because I'd love to address what you disagreed with. This person said that they "couldn't disagree more about praying for persecution", and that is was "totally unbiblical." I am confused by this slightly, because I thought I used enough Scripture to prove my point. I won't repeat them all, but let me refresh our memories. Philippians 1:29 says, "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." It has been GRANTED. Mr. Webster says that "grant" means to "allow fulfillment of." 2 Timothy 3:12 says "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." So, I'm not Einstein, but if the Bible says we WILL suffer and we don't, pretty sure something is wrong. Lastly, In Matthew 5:11 Jesus says, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake." Well, why can't we have this blessing too? Like I said, I appreciate this comment, but I don't understand how it can be unbiblical to ask for persecution when the Bible makes it look so appealing! If anyone has a problem with this, please attack me with Scripture (common sense won't convince me).

5) The final comment (which brings me to the point of this blog) was this:

"Very interesting thoughts, now my question for you is how are you going to put this into application? I don't think it's a very real expectation to be martyred in America, unless maybe you're doing inner city ministry... but I certainty like the fearless attitude to act as if you were."

It's very true. America isn't exactly the #1 country in the world for getting persecuted. And please don't misunderstand me. I thank God all the time for this. I love living in America. We are the greatest nation on earth. We are free, rich (and don’t think we aren’t rich because the economy is bad...if you have food, you are rich), and you can become whoever you want if you're willing to work for it. So if we are "supposed" to be persecuted, what can we do?

Well, you could start with waving a Bible above your head in China. :) 

Yes. I am exaggerating. The point of being a Christian is not to just get killed (sorry if I've come across that way). 

Let me try to give you an example of what I'm talking about. Let's talk football (sorry if you're not into sports). Let's say your name is Bret Favre (what an honor!). Your coach worked really hard to get you on his team. He took extreme ridicule just so that you could be his quarterback. No one else thought you deserved the position, but coach asked you to join anyway. A couple of months later, you are in Super Bowl 44. If you had two options, which would you choose? 

1. You hand the ball off every play to Adrian Peterson because it is safe, and you don't have to worry about getting hurt. He's the best running back in the NFL so it's not like what you're doing is wrong, right?

2. You put everything on the line. After all, Coach put everything on the line for you. Why shouldn't you do the same? The game comes down to the wire. There are 5 seconds left. You get the snap. Drop back. Scramble. Percy Harvin has his man beat deep. You pump fake to Bernard Berrian, and take a step forward to launch it deep to Harvin. Just as you release the ball, Daniel Muir from the Indianapolis Colts defensive line smacks you helmet to helmet. The ball sails straight into the arms of your receiver for a touchdown. The hit you received sends you to the ground, and you have to be carted off the field. You never play another game, but because you were willing to give it all for your team and your coach, you are a Super Bowl champion. 

Now, this may not be the best example, but hopefully it helps. 

You know it's interesting, another comment I received informed me that the early church had problems with people WANTING to be martyred. Do you think these people just hated their life and thought this would be a cool way to "go out?" No. I don't even know what to say about it. Were they "too" passionate? Is God going to punish them for not staying alive? Now, I don't think you have to go try to die. But I honestly think that if nobody hates you, there's got to be a problem. This world isn't Godly anymore. 

Okay, I believe I have officially kicked this topic to death, thrown it over Niagara Falls, stabbed it through, and blown it up. If you don't get the point now...you probably just skipped to this paragraph. 

So, you'll be glad to know we're almost done. I am going to finish with giving you three examples of what a un-boring Christian could look like.

1. (An Un-Boring "American Christian). This is someone who decides not to leave the greatest nation on earth. God does not call everyone to leave their home. If he did, then there wouldn't be such a thing as home. Everyone would be traveling and there would be no one to witness to cuz they'd be traveling too. So, how do you live a persecuted life for Christ in an un-persecuted America? It's actually incredibly easy. Only 1 step. Be willing to be persecuted. I can almost guarantee that if you are willing to be persecuted, that you will be. Now, you don't have to ASK for persecution, but Jesus said the person who is persecuted is blessed, so it may not be a bad idea. What does this mean for you? Let's say you have a nice job. High pay. Let's say your business asks you to compromise one tiny area of your faith. Don't agree. "But if I don't, I'll be out of a job, and my family will suffer!" Oh, yeah, you're probably right. It is definitely a smart idea to put your family before God (note the sarcasm used). The same goes for school. If you are popular, you are going to have unbelieving friends (most likely even if you aren't). If your friend keeps using God's name in vain, tell him/her to shut up! "But he won't be my friend anymore!" 

Let me ask you a question. What would you do if your best friends made fun of your dad every other sentence? And if that doesn't apply to you for whatever reason, fill "dad" in with the person you most care about. What if your friends talked smack about this person all the time? Would you tolerate that? At the very least you would ask them to stop! I guarantee that! But we don't. We let them make fun of our Savior all the time. We do nothing about it. How are our friends supposed to believe that our faith is a "relationship" when we don't care what people say about our "best friend"? These are just two examples of an un-boring American Christian. I'm sure there are better examples, but this should be enough to get your thinking.

2. (An Un-Boring Missionary Christian #1) This is someone who is a missionary in a country where it's legal to be one. Two thoughts come to mind for this scenario. First of all, if you're a missionary, it means that these people already have a religion. They worship someone besides the true God. Maybe it's the sun, Buddha, Allah, etc. Usually, not every single person in a village is thrilled to see his people losing their faiths. How would YOU feel if some guy/girl came to your town/city and started convincing all of your friends and family that Jesus was just made up? If someone was starting to convince my sister to waiver in her faith, I'd give HIM some persecution. So, you will probably get persecuted that way. If you don't, why not persecute yourself? I'll explain. All I mean by this is give 101% in everything you do. Don't accept any money for what you do. Give it all away to those in need. "But that's stupid!" Yeah, it's definitely idiotic to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If you haven't realized this yet, following Jesus isn't about "making sense to the world". This last idea works for an un-boring American Christian, as well as my last option.

3. (An Un-Boring Missionary Christian #2) This is someone who takes my advice to the extreme, and spreads the Word in a place that will most likely get them killed. I don't know what all places this includes. I should find out. :) China for sure, but I know there are many more. Possibly even in America in certain areas. I think what these people do is pretty obvious. Preach the Word, live for Jesus, and try to stay alive doing it. Notice I didn't say "trying to get killed." After all, the longer you stay alive. the more you can lead to Jesus! But, everyone dies, so why not die with a Bible in your hand in a place where it's illegal?!

Conclusion. I was told in a speech class to never say "in conclusion". When one does so, people's thinking minds automatically shut off. So just stick with me for a little longer. 

I was recently asked what these idea I have been writing mean to me. How am I supposed to suffer when I am going to a $40,000 college, and studying English to be a High School english teacher? Simple answer. I have no idea. Right now I'm just praying. In all honestly, I thought about the idea of dropping out of school. That would bring about persecution for sure, because Mom would kill me. :) But seriously, why not go to another country right now? I'm pretty sure I know enough about my Savior to tell others about him. "But I'd run out of money and food?" Sure would! And then I'd be suffering! 

Now don't think I'm trying to make you look up to me or something. If I were, I'd be on a plane right now for China. As it is, I'm still planning on four years of college. All these posts have been, are thoughts. Just a lot of maybes. BUT...they are maybes that I'm not just "getting out of my system". I am praying for God's guidance, and I hope you are as well. If God has suffering and persecution in my future, I'd love for Him to show me what to do. 

If God wants me to be a wealthy teacher, and the greatest suffering He has in store, is not getting the promotion I deserve, I will thank Him. 

If He wants me to be a missionary on very limited income, I will thank Him. 

If He wants me to die one year from now with a Bible in my hand, I'll thank Him (in Heaven). 

But whatever happens, there are three things I need. 

1. I need Jesus.

2. I need suffering.

1. I need to hear my Savior say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of the lord."

So here we are. Your eyes are tired, your mind is spinning (hopefully), you've finished four bowls of popcorn, and your coca cola is long gone. What do you take away from this? I'll skim it all down to 5 things.

1. Wanting to suffer does not mean "trying" to suffer, but rather accepting it with joy when it comes.

2. One does not have to leave the country to suffer, just his front door. 

3. Ask for persecution.

4. Read your Bible (this seems random, but how are you supposed to know God's will if you don't listen to what He has to say?).

5. Philippians 4:11

Thank you for reading. The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make his face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. 

James Knoop

Matthew 5:14