Avoiding the Middle Road

One of the things I seem to be working on the most lately in my walk with Christ is refraining from becoming complacent. This is probably one of the biggest problems for most Christians today. Today in our culture it is so easy to make things a routine. We have this day to day routine or set of rituals that we must follow and sadly enough most of our Christian walks have conformed to this whole routine idea. I will be the first to admit I do it. I get to a point where I'm comfortable in my walk, where I'm not going through any troublesome trials, or I'm pretty happy with where my relationship with Christ is. It is then that I become complacent. However, Jesus does not call us to be comfortable or complacent. He calls us to walk how He walked--To live radically and to continually be growing in Him. "Radical" seems to be a scary word these days. It makes people uncomfortable. Well surprise, living a radical life is sometimes living an uncomfortable life. When you are living a radical life for the sake of Christ there are going to be plenty of times where you are going to feel uncomfortable...trust me. Yet, during these uncomfortable times, guess who is there to be your comfort??? GOD. I constantly try to place myself in situations where I'm outside of my comfort zone. I do this, because I want to challenge myself. I want to be able to take "me" out of it (my feelings, etc.) and focus on Christ alone. Although at times I may feel uneasy, scared, or worried what others may think, God brings me this comfort and joy I cannot express into words. In the video posted below, Francis Chan talks about how the church has created this new middle road. Today, we have put God in our box. Instead of us reflecting His image, we make it to where we want God to reflect ours. We have twisted God's word into something that is more comfortable or easy for us....we've created a middle road. I hope all of you take the time to watch this video and challenge yourselves to continually seek God, to not fall into complacency, but ask God to awaken your spirit and revive your heart!! I love the wording of Matthew 7:13 in The Message: "Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life- to God!- is vigorous and requires total attention."