Are you Half a Christian?

A person is called a Christian when they accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. We then start a journey that we all hope to complete. We become involved with a community of believers (church), we read the book of wisdom (Bible), we communicate with God (prayer) and we start to change. That change in us should make us feel empathy and compassion for others, and through prayer and deliberation God will lead us in action.

Christians in America have become so ambivalent about the church and God that we are like a bowl of cold rice, we only eat it if we have to. This attitude has also infected our churches and is creeping into institutions of higher learning. Norman Shawchuck was a United Methodist pastor, adjunct professor and full professor at numerous universities and seminaries teaching Divinity. In his writings he said that his biggest problem as a teacher was” keeping the students awake and motivated”. He also remarked that it was a pity that there was “no stoning’s or riots in his classroom”. The students in his classroom were Christian, wanting to be pastors and did not yet have the passion. This is a further indication of the numbness of our culture. How do we know that this is true?

Knowing the “Truth” is exactly the problem because truth is now measured by what most people believe, and what most people believe is not a “Christian based” belief. In fact, many beliefs now have very little to do with the facts, and not many people want to accept the consequences of their belief. We have been told to be proud of ourselves, proud of what we look like and how we act. Each individual is the ruler of their own self. The consequences of all these individual actions have an effect on other individuals and society as a whole. Christians in the past have been a stabilizing force in society and also a destabilizing force when needed. The Christian hope and expectation is that all of society believes in God (the Kingdom of God). We all have been blessed by God to live in America, because we have the freedom that allows us to change and control our own society. Because of Christ we have become God’s chosen people, and because of America we have the ability to change our society into the Kingdom of God. Blessed to live in America, blessed by God, but we don’t seem to want to acknowledge our blessings and work to further the Kingdom. So, in truth and by the facts, how are we Christians doing?

Let’s look at a non-controversial subject. The Body Mass Index or BMI of adults in the US indicated that in 1950 12% of the population was obese while now that number is approaching 40%. If we include the category of overweight along with the obese then we find that 71% of the US adult population is in that category. Between 2011 and 2020 depression, binge drinking, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and COPD all increased. At the same time the percentage of people smoking decreased and the number of people exercising increased.

If we are Christians then what does this mean to us? The truth is that this is a bad situation. However, “our” new reality says that you can be yourself, have self-esteem and be proud no matter what your condition is. Besides, people are making money selling soft drinks, food, etc., and excessive consumption shows that we are prosperous and is good for business. These overweight individuals are likely to have a reduced quality of life due to their physical conditions related to their excessive weight. In addition, the community of all of us will bear the cost monetarily and emotionally because of each individual’s choice. Perhaps some Christians may have compassion and empathy but will say to themselves this is the way that things are. That is not the attitude of a mature Christian.

What should we as Christians do? If you find that something is not right and through prayer, feel the burden of this problem, then, as a mature Christian you must act. How you act must also be laid on your heart, because we are dealing with changing behavior and that has an emotional aspect to it. This may involve understanding why a person you love does this and then helping them; it may involve starting a blog talking about this issue; it may involve some other action you take; but in any case, it involves acting on what has been laid on you and what you know to be true. With those facts above we should be changing our own attitudes about what is healthy and the risks of overeating by living a new attitude … teaching our children how to eat, correcting our bad habits, etc.

Mature Christians can solve the problems we have in this country by speaking up, speaking out, praying and LISTENING to God, working to change them, being an example to others, getting excited and then DOING IT! We are to live the life that God gave us. God is with us in this place at this time. He has put each of us in a vocation and that is your calling, unless He calls to us to do something else for Him. Remember the rich young man that could have become one of Jesus’ Disciples but was too attached to things of this world that he could not see the riches offered him (Mt 19:16–22).

The Disciple Group suggests that you ask yourself some questions. Would I give up watching football to help my neighbor? Would I give up my favorite TV show to read the bible? Would I drive a neighbor to the hospital each week for their treatments? These and questions like that are really the question “What am I willing to give up to follow Jesus?”

Are you Half a Christian or a Christian that is maturing and working to further the Kingdom of God on earth?