Motherhood

This teaching by Pastor Mark Driscoll has blessed so many of us.

Hope you find it as encouraging!

Motherhood: A blessing and a curse

Practicing Passionate Christianity

Our nation is thought to be the Christian nation by the world and by Americans themselves.  We inscribe Deity on our money, in our anthems, and on our court buildings.  We have The Bible Belt, a church on every corner, Christian radio stations that span the continent.  Our country, most of the time, boasts of its religious superiority.  We have not "given-in" like other nations.  I too thought America to be the last good country with a sliver of morals still left for us to chew on...that is until I left America.

I first visited England when I was 20 years old on a short-term missions trip with my church youth group.  I had not known the privileges I had as an American-Christian till that week.  We walked the streets one Friday night with the hopes of bumping into the local youth who crowded dark corners.  It wasn't hard to find them, as clouds of booze could be smelt long before you arrived before them.  At 13, the police ignored their late night parties and, at most, waved their fingers telling the young kids to just go home.  Would you be as surprised as I was that not a single on of them (about 20 in total) knew what the Gospel was?  The Gospel!  How many times have I heard it?  How many different people have told me?  Not only that, but not a SINGLE one owned or had read the Bible.  They hardly new what it was about.

I did pity them.  I shared with joy this news and prayed that for many, upon realizing that the Gospel was a much theirs as it was the disciples, they would remember that night when its sweet honey first touched their ears.  Pity?  At that time, yes.

A year later I returned to the streets of York, but this time it was to attend Calvary Chapel Bible College.  Two and a half years later it was I that needed the pity.  I had seen the lack of a church on every corner and a Bible in every house as sad.  (I do pray for it, but differently than I first did).  When one of those souls comes to Christ it is the most moving and beautiful moments ever to behold.  There is no alternative: you are for Him or against Him.  They do not have a Christian radio station, just Christ.  They do not have a Christian coffee house, just the Lord among the world.  They do not have 30 churches to choose between.  They cannot church hop as they find the one with the "coolest" music or the pastor who speaks the best.  The form of Christianity that this births is raw and real.

Americans are boisterous and most will tell you their life story if you ask.  However, ask anyone this simple question, "How are you?" and you will get the vague answer, "Good."  When it comes to our spiritual lives we are hidden.  We hide behind a curtain of spiritual greatness afraid to show others that Christianity is a struggle, a battle of flesh and Spirit.  Is that not true?

I experienced "reverse culture shock" when I came back to America for Christmas.  I had become accustom to being in want that I forgot that I was raised in a country that seems to never lack.  A friend at the time gave a sermon on Practical Atheism and it is a thought that stuck with me, especially in light of what I was experiencing at that time.  The common phrase, "The devil is in the details" can be all too true.  What is practical atheism?  In his book, Atheism: The Case Against God, George Smith writes:
"Practical atheists 'believe that they believe in God (and...perhaps believe in Him in their brains but...in reality deny His existence by each on of their deeds.')"

England's hinderance to the Gospel is there is no one to share the Gospel.  The country that once sent out great missionaries such as George Muller and the Wesley brothers now is in need of missionaries themselves.  In contrast, America's hinderance is that we know the Gospel.  It has become so common that many have justified a life that includes faith and folly (I am no exception).  We smile and quote scripture, but when it comes down to the practical, such as that electric bill or our prayer life, God gets the scraps.  Tithing is done in prosperity, prayer when we have no other options.  Practically, God gets the last mention.  That is, unless we are at church.  Then the mask is neatly placed and the attitude is nothing but smiles.

What about your life?  Examine, reader.  I'm not asking you to account for the bible studies you're involve, but your practical daily routine.  When you are at the grocery store or looking for something to watch on t.v.?  The websites you find yourself on? (Focus on the Family found, in their study, that 38% of women have intentionally looked for pornography).

Christ did not call us to mediocrity.  As imitators of Christ we are to live the same passionate life.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1. "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."  But, then in 1 Corinthians 4:16 he simply says, "Imitate me".  No "as I imitate".  It fascinates me that Paul's life was such an example that it was a given that you'd end up looking a lot like Jesus if you emulated Paul's own life.  What is stopping me from being passionate about my faith?  It's time we get real, that our lives become a raw example of what it means to be a follower of Christ.  The freedom in that is it's not easy!  I can let go of my need to always be perfect (Christianity is about striving for Perfection not about pretending we have already obtained it), or to always have the answers.  Practical Atheism attempts to HIDE.  Practical Christianity attempts to be OPEN.  This doesn't mean spewing your garbage to everyone that asks, "how are you", but not shielding yourself to the option of allowing those around you a chance to minister to you.  Isn't that one of the paradoxes of our faith?  When we are weak He is strong.

Have you allowed the devil to creep into the details?
What practical changes can you make in your life to more correctly display your faith in Christ?

Read Romans 12:1-3.  Can you see the balance of "passionate" and "practical" in that verse?