Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Civilized Christians
In the beginning of his book, The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus quotes from the movie, Rocky III, when Mick says to Rocky, "But then the worst thing happened that could happen to any fighter, you got civilized."
The same can be said for Christians. McManus says it this way: "Perhaps the tragedy of our time is that such an overwhelming number of us who declare Jesus as Lord have become domesticated - or, if you will, civilized. We have lost the simplicity of our early faith. Beyond that, we have lost the passion and power of that raw, untamed, and primal faith" (p.12).
The civilized Christian is one who blends into the culture, whose radical faith has been compromised by the advanced and ordered stage of technological and cultural development. The domesticated comforts of civilization have tamed the uninhibited faith and ways of the kingdom of God that the Spirit has birthed in the believer. The choice is to remain in the comfort of what civilization offers, or to step into the world of God's kingdom with the adventure and risk that are part of living in the Spirit in the midst of a civilization governed by flesh.
The same can be said for Christians. McManus says it this way: "Perhaps the tragedy of our time is that such an overwhelming number of us who declare Jesus as Lord have become domesticated - or, if you will, civilized. We have lost the simplicity of our early faith. Beyond that, we have lost the passion and power of that raw, untamed, and primal faith" (p.12).
The civilized Christian is one who blends into the culture, whose radical faith has been compromised by the advanced and ordered stage of technological and cultural development. The domesticated comforts of civilization have tamed the uninhibited faith and ways of the kingdom of God that the Spirit has birthed in the believer. The choice is to remain in the comfort of what civilization offers, or to step into the world of God's kingdom with the adventure and risk that are part of living in the Spirit in the midst of a civilization governed by flesh.
# posted by Carman : 2:54 PM
