“but what about all my stuff?!”

Americanized Christianity has such a different perspective on what it means to live for Christ than what the Bible teaches. If we consider for a moment when Jesus called His disciples, we would find men who stopped what they were doing, dropped everything, and followed Him. In Mark 1, we see several of the first disciples demonstrate a total lack of personal restraint or reservation. In an instant they left their livelihoods, families, and personal property behind. When Christ called them, they literally got up and left!

I see on facebook and blog posts, and hear verbally from many of my Christian friends how much they love Christ. I wouldn’t presume to dispute that. But I have to wonder whether my brothers and sisters (including myself at times) are in love with the Christ we have created in our minds, the one that wouldn’t really make us leave our families and possessions behind, or the real Christ that we find in God’s Word. How many of us who profess Christ would willingly drop everything such as our careers and retirement plans, walk away from our families and those we cherish, abandon personal property and comforts we try so desperately to accumulate, and follow the living Christ? Would we be like the one in Luke 9 who asked the Lord if He could first go say goodbye to his family? -or would we resemble those back in Mark who, without uttering a word, walked away with the Son of God?

These are tough questions. Regardless, to profess that we are Christians requires our 100% devotion to God. He is, after all, the ultimate Judge who will look on our hearts and deeds and will declare whether or not we were committed to Him.

We must start evaluating our version of Christianity to see if it is consistent with the Bible. Popular Christianity, or “comfort Christianity” even “feel good Christianity”, doesn’t mesh with Biblical Christianity. We have gone so far as to twist Christian living into something that looks ideal (from our perspective) and doesn’t require anything, let alone the slightest sacrifice on our part. We have concocted a God that is only about love and comfort and satiating our needs and maybe even a few of our wants. A God who is satisfied with us slipping a twenty into the offering plate during missions emphasis week at our church, just so He won’t make us go to a foreign country to win the lost.

In reality, the God of the Bible expects uninhibited devotion to Him, and committed, purposeful action for Him. Christ consistently preached that it is by our fruits we would be easily identifiable as belonging to Him and the Father.

So I ask you, would you deny yourself, leave all behind, take up your cross, and follow Him? Would Christ describe you as one who is completely devoted and fervently committed to Him?