"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will."
- Romans 12:2
We live in a world marred by mediocrity, a world content on complacency, a world saturated by stagnancy. Our culture is permeated by the putrid pithy sayings "i'm only human," "i did my best," "what else do you expect from me?" Our culture stinks of rotten staleness, false advancement, and steadfast hypocrisy. And we love it! We breed it! We foster it! WE EXPLOIT IT!
As a follower of Christ it disgusts me, because i am to blame, i feed into this culture, i "thrive in it". And if you call yourself a Christ follower a "Christian," then you should be just as abhorred by the state of our culture and the part we all play in it. It is time for a change, a radical change, a rebelution. These thoughts stem from a book i am reading "Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations" by Alex and Brett Harris. They are 19, the book is fantastic. Read it. Now. It geared towards teens, but is applicable to all. Read it.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:30 "Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me." This isn't a metaphor, or figurative speech, it is the truth, it is how we are called to live. With God, in his will. And guess what? Jesus was a rebelutionary, he came to radically alter the way we live, think and act. He came bringing the good news, the Gospel, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is here. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand it is now. The Gospel is not just salvation, salvation is merely the entry way, the door way, the Gospel is ultimately about Kingdom Living.
Jesus challenged us not to become complacent and apathetic, Kingdom Living is living out the Commandments that God has given us. Why do we live out these commandments? 1 John 5:3 "This is love for God: to obey his commands, and his commands are not burdensome." The question that we have to ask ourselves is are we known for what we do? or what we don't do? Jesus was known for what he did. Those who change this world are know for what they do. Why? because it cuts across the grain, it goes against the patterns of this world. It's rebelutionary. Is following Christ about avoiding the "bad-stuff", or is it about doing "good, hard stuff" for God? The answer is clear and Psalm 1:1 reiterates it.
Our charge is to make disciples of all the nations, as we are going. As we are living life we are to make disciples. You cannot make disciples by living within the patterns of this world. We cannot make disciples by following a cookie cutter pattern for how to live rebelutionary, how to live Kingdom Minded. Ephesians 2:8-10 makes this evident - "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." We are wonderfully and fearfully made unique, none of us will follow the same path, you cannot live your life vicariously through someone else.
Doing hard things, that is going against the cultural standards, to do rebelutionary things means doing things that cause you individual to grow and be stretched. We must be committed to growth because that will kill complacency. We must be committed to a constant unique battle for growth, and doing things that challenge us. We must not accept the low expectations the world has for us. This is the only way to live for God. The only way to live in order to truly change the world.
"I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the of effort, of labor and strife; to preach the highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph."
-Theodore Roosevelt
