I am grateful for the insights and gift of words God has blessed Charlotte with and the blessing she is to our family. This short piece from her Instagram feed is a helpful reminder of the kind of 'countercultural' movement that characterized the early churches and turned the Roman Empire upside down. There is s a great need for believers and churches to return to the way of Christ and his Apostles.
Something that has always struck me about the personhood of Jesus is how countercultural He is.
Love your enemies.
Forgive those who hurt you.
Submit to governing authorities.
Align yourself with the poor and oppressed.
These are only a few of the controversial, yet beautiful teachings of Jesus.
As followers of Christ, these are principles that we are called to mimic in our own lives. Yet, I find more and more that the focus of modern Western Christianity is to simply make being a Christian “look cool.”
Not only does this come across as being super cringey, but it’s also a complete distraction from our goal as disciples.
Following Christ does not mean you will fit in. In fact, it entails the opposite.
In choosing to follow Jesus, we’ve been welcomed into a new life that He modelled for us. A life, not outside our modern culture, but set apart within it.
Our goal as believers is not to shave our scandalous faith down to mere rinds by focusing on trying to squeeze it into the box of our modern culture. It’s to adorn the gospel, even when it may not be the cool or easy thing to do.
The gospel is attractive on its own.
Jesus’ life, though counterculture, was and is desirable.
We don’t need to add anything to it. In fact, it’s arrogant of us to think that God needs us to.
Instead, our focus should be on seeking to practically, authentically, and passionately live out the gospel in our daily lives SO THAT others may know the beauty and blessings found in Him.
See Titus 2 & 1 Peter 2:1-11
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