More Than You Think It Is - November 9, 2008

Good Sunday morning! May God bless you this fine day.

More than You Think it Is.

One of the main criticisms of becoming a Christian is that a person would have to give up everything they like to do. If these activities involve sin, then yes, you probably will want to give them up to live for Jesus. However, giving up prostitution, or pornography, or other sinful activities does not mean giving up sex. As you can see, the first two are actually perversions of the latter; much like all sin is a perversion of what God created as right and good. Adultery is a perversion of marriage, theft is a perversion of working to earn a living, and many other examples. A life in Christ is not sitting around all day memorizing scripture and being quiet, not that some of that wouldn't do us some good, but no one really wants to do that all the time. Life in Christ is more than you might think it is. How would the Word spread if all Christians were quiet all day?

Music is another area where the world thinks that we fall short. However, just like with sexual sin, what seems provocative and desirable in music may not be what is good for us to hear. The arguments about whether popular music spawns violence, drug use, and sexual sin have gone round after round with no clear victor. On the other hand, Christian music is by no means dull and the artists are every bit as talented as those the world holds up as icons, or I guess that would be "idols" these days. Whether you like country, old time gospel, heavy metal, rock, or even rap; someone is making new albums glorifying God in one of these genres. Life in Christ is more than you think it is.

Entertainment: who wants to go to a movie with no sex, drug use, gratuitous violence, foul language, or flagrant boozing? Apparently a lot of people do. Christian themed and moral movies have done very well in the marketplace. Few would argue that the Sound of Music is a classic; the Narnia movies have done well; and of course we cannot forget The Passion of the Christ which many have seen. The last movie is very violent, but that is because the event itself was very violent. All of these also prove that screenplays can be written without profanity and still make good money, if that is all the writer, producer, etc. is worried about. I do like to watch a movie in which I do not have to worry about hearing our Lord's name used in vain. I am sure that you could come up with many more examples of movies that are entertaining without using objectionable material.

Examples could keep us here all day. The point is to realize that the images of dull life, either here or in the afterlife, are wrong. Jesus came that we might have life more abundantly, not to take all the fun out of life. A person may think that he has to give up things to live for Christ, but what he will find is that he wants to give up those things for a better life in Christ. We all fear the unknown, but life in Christ is a progressive discovery of the unknown, hardly dull, and certainly better than the fear and uncertainty of life in the world.

Praise the Lord for a new life in Him!

Bucky