Can a Christ follower be main stream?  I mean, can a truly sold out, on fire, Christ follower (who is light and salt) fit right in to the world?  Christ was pretty out there relative to society.  So were his followers.  The ones who actually fit in to the world were the Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s.  They were actually accepted, looked up to, valued, and admired.  They tithed, probably better than the vast majority of Christ followers do now, they went to church, again, probably more consistently than most Christ followers do now, and they did some teaching.  All that to say, they felt like they were being good stewards of all that they had.  Yes, some were really hypocritical, but last time I checked, so are many of today’s Christ followers, myself included if we’re being brutally honest.  Most truly felt they were doing what God had called them do, and were doing what the generation before them did and the generation before them and so on.

Fast forward to today.  In my last post I talked about my house.  I love my house.  It’s way bigger and nicer than my family needs if you cut to real need.  But I’m happy there, my family is happy there, we entertain friends, we use our house for bible studies, missionaries stay with us, you get the picture.  Why am I now thinking that I am doing exactly what the Pharisee’s did.  I am fitting into culture, accepting the world’s values, and finding a way to justify it by using what I like to call relativism.  As in, compared to other people (or relative to other people) I know in really nice houses, I do so much for the church.  Relative to some other people I know, I am really appreciative of all that God has blessed me with.  The justifications go on.  I can’t help but think that on the whole, God would rather me live a little (maybe a lot) leaner and have less bible studies in my home, and more Christ in my daily life.  Maybe more money to give away.  Maybe more time and money to go and share the gospel.  Across the street and across the world.

Mainstream Christianity.  I now believe that’s an oxymoron.  Biblical Christianity was never mainstream.  The disciples and early believers broke the mold of the world, and lived lives that changed the world.  The world has been trying to force Christ followers to fit in ever since.  You know, build relationships with people, fit in, do what everyone else is doing (job, house, car) but just add a little Jesus to the mix.  Go to church, pray every now and then – and of course pray intensely when in a crisis, just be normal.  There were, and are, Christians who refused to live “normal” lives.  Strangely enough, they seem to be the ones who are actually changing the world one new Christ follower at a time.

I’m still living in my comfortable house.   But I’m not really comfortable anymore.