Is Christ in You?

Is Christ in You?

     An issue that always bothers me in our world is the misuse of Christ in context to the world.  For some the idea of a Christian is an annoying person who feels superior to everyone else, someone who is judgmental and narrow minded.  I know this because of some of the experiences that I have had before coming to Christ and from some of the reactions that have been given to me by others.  The fact that I and many others like me are conservative tends to be icing on the cake for many because then they just lump me in with the likes of Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggert, and Pat Buchanan.  These are all roadblocks to evangelization because these don’t represent the majority like me.
     My heart is in trying to introduce many to the great salvation that can be found in Jesus Christ, the great relief and rest that one can find is astounding.  I can remember when I was pretty much anti-Christian, I was still a conservative, but I looked at most of these Christians as being people that felt they were superior and they more often than not justified my feelings by their actions.  If you have long hair, a goatee, and are a partier and a smoker, well, you just can’t fit – at least as I knew them in college.  I was rejected because I didn’t wear the uniform and didn’t act the ‘right’ way.  Well, here I am now an ex-smoker with short hair and no goatee a Christian in seminary to become a pastor, but still remembering the way that I was treated and wanting to insure that others will not go through the same things that I did and having convictions that have been burned into me since coming to Christ and I am having to break through and hurdle over the mistreatment given by others before me.
     The idea of faith is being looked at as illogical and to some extent I would agree because it isn’t something completely tangible, but then knowing that the alternative is just as illogical because it places a ‘faith’ in man made constructions and when illogical things occur those who adhere to a concept of science and reason write it off as an anomaly.  Then there are those who I understand their beliefs such as Wicca and other pagan movements who are so hardened by the judgment of others that it becomes almost impossible to even begin a dialogue.
     So, here we are with two choices to do nothing or to reach out to a broken world.  God is calling up an army to change the world, the question is:  “Are you hearing it?”  The choice of doing nothing is one that has been the choice of many for a long time and is why we find a world that is trying to marginalize Christianity as just another idea and eventually, if allowed, these churches will cease to exist.  This leaves truly only one long-term option – to heed the call – to join God’s army – an army not of guns, swords, or any other weapons, but an army that is on its knees in prayer and serving the world fully dependent on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  The question isn’t whether it will succeed, the question is will you be a part of it and is Christ in you?