Well I’d like to start out by saying that this is not an attack on Carrie Underwood. I think Carrie Underwood seems like a sweet girl, and I’m not attempting to say that she’s not a Christian or anything like that. This is simply an observance of modern society and the contradictions that we willingly accept without question. Yesterday while I was getting my hair cut my hair stylist and I started having a conversation about music. We somehow got on the subject of country music and I mentioned that I didn’t understand how the same artist could become famous for songs with messages as contradictory as “Jesus Take The Wheel” and “Cowboy Casanova.” Or how contradictory songs like “God is great, beer is good and people are crazy” are. She replied, “Yeah, I used to really judge an artist for that sort of thing, but then I realized that I do the exact same thing with my life, I’m just not in the public eye.”
That really made me start thinking. So many of us as Christians send contradictory messages to those around us with the way we live our lives. We’ll say preachy things every once in a while, some of us even lead worship or speak at our churches, or have our own cell groups or Bible studies that we lead. But we’ll leave church and go to the movies to watch films filled with sex, nudity, and all sorts of other evils. Or one day we’ll make a status update about how great God is, and then the next day we’ll make a post about how drunk we got at the party we were at. I’ve attended several Bible studies for men that ended with guys making perverted jokes and having competitions to see who can come up with the funniest “That’s what she said.” I even had one friend that used to brag about how he’d party on the weekends but still managed to make it to church every Sunday morning. And he proudly called himself a Christian. Surely you can see how all those things send contradictory messages to those around us. I even started thinking about comments I make to my roommate when it’s just him and I at home thinking, “Oh it’s no big deal. He knows my heart.” But the Bible says, “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45) The Bible also says “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” (James 3:11)
We need to decide what we want our lives to represent, and then we need to align everything in our lives to that. We can’t afford to be walking contradictions. We can’t preach about modesty and then run around the pool half naked in our bikini, or preach about purity and then get groups together to go watch the latest movie filled with sexual innuendos and lustful images. I could keep going but I think you get my point. Those types of things just make us look like a joke, and in some ways we are when we live that contradictory. If we’re going to talk about devoting our entire lives to God but then can’t even manage to stay out of inappropriate movies, to dress ourselves in God honoring ways in public, or to keep our conversations clean when hanging with our friends then how can we be taken seriously? Think about what kind of message that is sending to unbelievers. It’s very mixed signals. Do you think the enemy is really scared of that kind of an “army.“ If I was the enemy I wouldn’t be. I’d just laugh. If we really want to be a threat to the dark kingdom than we’ve got to quit playing games. There is a price to pay, and that price is everything.
Why do you think that with a church on every corner that our nation still continues to morally digress at an exponential rate? It’s because many of the self proclaiming Christians in this nation are no threat to satan. If we can’t even say “no” to compromising situations because we don’t want to be left out of the group or thought of as uncool than how are we going to go against the grain to lead reform? If a pretty girl is so enslaved to human opinion that she has to dress like all the other girls to fit in even when she knows it’s not God honoring than how is she ever going to step out from the crowd to lead the reform this generation so badly needs? What is more important to you, your spiritual life or your social life? I travel around the country going from church to church spending time with a different congregation every week. And unfortunately I generally don’t encounter anything more than a social club that meets together on Sundays and Wednesdays. Most of the time nothing that satan needs to worry about. Being a Christian is supposed to be about a lot more than just being part of a social club. We are in a spiritual war! And people are going to Hell everyday and there are millions of people suffering from all sorts of injustice on the earth now. And what do we do about it? Well we meet together in our pretty suits and dresses on Sundays and hang out and watch movies with each other on the weekends. . . ? Am I wrong?
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of that. It’s important to have Godly friends that you can have fun with. We all SHOULD have that. It’s healthy. I’m just saying there’s a lot more that should be happening than JUST that. What this generation needs is reformists! What the church needs is reform! And when I say “church” I’m not talking about a specific building or congregation. I’m talking about US. WE need reform. We’ve got to come out of this compromising, powerless, selfish, lukewarm stupor that has come to define the western church. We are an ARMY with a MISSION! We need to start living like it. I believe that God is going to raise up reformists in this generation. Men and women that refuse to blend in, that are willing to go against the grain, and even when all of society says it should be one way or that there’s no hope of ever changing, that they refuse to accept that and lead by example as pioneers into a new “normal.” And I believe several of those reformists are reading this right now. Is your heart stirred? Then I’m talking to you. Never under estimate what God can do with even just 1 life fully submitted to him. As the song says it, “Don’t be afraid to stand out, that’s how the lost get found.”
So what about you? Are you blending in with society? Are you singing “Jesus take the wheel” one day and “cowboy Casanova” the next? We must decide what message we want our lives to send to those watching us, and then we have to work fearlessly and tirelessly to remove anything that would contradict that message. Because that is when our message will truly become effective.
Living to touch God’s heart,
Chris Ulery
divine-romance.com
Amen! If we see places that our lives don’t line up with what we say on Sundays or with our Christian friends, then it is time to start working on changing and asking God for grace to help us with the things that we struggle with. Every victory, even if it just avoiding gossip when we are tempted to, is a great victory that makes us stronger. And how much easier it is to have faith for challenges in life if “our heart condemns us not.” I John 3:21-22 – “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”