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Passing on Comfortable Faith
by Gabriela Broome
Gabriela
Broome discusses our responsibility to the next generation. We
are going to leave something to them, but what?
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A friend of mine recently mentioned how appalled and insulted
he was when he heard people calling the “Christians” radicals
during the 2008 Presidential election here in the states. My
response was, “What’s wrong with that?” I thought we were
supposed to be “radical for Jesus”.
Unfortunately, many Salvationists and “Christians” have the
same reaction more often than not. We are afraid of how others
will label us. There is that 1995 song by DC Talk that was
popular at one time, which asked, “What will people think when
they hear that I’m a Jesus freak? What will people do when
they find that it’s true?” The chorus of that song includes a
line stating, “I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus
freak. There ain’t no disguising the truth.” However, if we
are in love with Christ why would we be ashamed of that and
try to hide it? That’s like dating someone or being married to
someone and trying to hide our mate from everyone. The key
however, is to actually be in love with Christ to have come to
the point and realization that no one can pull us away from
that love.
The challenge is to arrive at the level in life where a person
is actually in love with Christ. Once this level is achieved,
there is a vast difference in the way a person can live life.
Unfortunately, I believe society today has convinced us that
we as Christians, don’t have to be in love with Christ. We
just have to love him. There is nothing wrong with loving
Christ. Yet, God calls us to a deeper relationship with Him.
Establishing this deeper relationship allows us to see through
God’s eyes, feel through God’s senses and to love as God
loves.
The setback, though, is the sad truth that too large a
percentage of the Christian population doesn’t dig deeper. I
honestly believe that if we did and on a daily basis, our
world would be so different. We would see the miracles in the
Bible stories we learn about. We would pray with fervent faith
to move mountains. We would allow God to be in control. We
would not worry about being shaken because of the economic
crisis. We wouldn’t be afraid to knock on our neighbor’s door.
We would have such passion to seek Christ and serve Him in all
the ways he asks. We would also wholeheartedly teach our
children the path of righteousness.
In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus gives the Great Commission to his
disciples, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age.” (NIV) From this passage, it is very clear
that everyone has been commissioned by Christ to spread His
Word and that He is always with us. He is with us to help us
accomplish this task. We however, need to consider the fact
that Jesus is willing to be with us, but do we want Jesus to
be with us? If we do not open our hearts and enter a loving
and deep relationship with Him, how can we enable our trust to
grow? How will our faith grow? This is the key.
Our faith and love for Christ will grow as much as we allow it
to grow. Unfortunately, it seems that too often we do not
allow our faith to develop. Yes, it is a process that develops
over time, but even Paul said in Philippians 3:12-15, “Not
that I have already obtained all this, or have already been
made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider
myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has
called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature
should take such a view of things. And if on some point you
think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” (NIV)
Paul, who was a very strong man of God who left us his
testimony in writing, even states that though he had, what we
would consider, an intimate relationship with Christ, he
continued to develop that relationship because it was an
ongoing process.
The questions here are: Are you comfortable with the level of
faith and love you have reached? Are you continuously pressing
onward to deepen your relationship with our Father? If the
answers aren’t what you wish they were, there is still time to
change and time to spend developing that intimacy with Him. If
we become apathetic towards the need to grow spiritually, not
only are we endangering our soul’s eternal destination, but we
also run the risk of endangering that of the next generation.
There are often advertisements for saving and preserving
planet earth for our children and grandchildren. These often
remind us to recycle or start thinking more “Green”. Sometimes
we are asked for monetary contributions to help the work of
various organizations that fight for endangered animal
species, for cleaner water or for better laws to protect the
environment. Why? So the earth will exist tomorrow for our
children and their children. In the USA, a cleaner environment
is currently one of President Barak Obama’s keen interests.
His administration has already been reviewing and evaluating
Former President George Bush’s environmental policies. This
issue and all other issues on the political agenda are handled
in a manner which considers its effects on our future.
If the secular world is concerned with the planet’s existence
tomorrow for future generations why would Christians not be
concerned with the spiritual status of their own souls in
addition to that of their future generations? Now is the time
to build a relationship with Christ. Others will see that
development because Christ will live in us and will be
revealed to others through our everyday living. These “others”
are not only people of our own age, but children as well.
Children are quite observant and grasp ideas and concepts that
adults do not always consider that they would understand.
Proverbs 22: 6 states, “Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (NIV)
Salvationist, and fifth grade teacher, Josh Knapp, was
surprised to observe that his Muslim students could recite
verses from the Koran with ease and unashamedly talk about
their beliefs. The surprise came because he would compare this
observation with the children at his home corps who couldn’t
really answer many questions about what they believe about
Jesus. His concern as a youth leader at his corps is that
church leaders are not teaching and leading to the best of
their ability in order that the youth will know and understand
about their relationship with Christ. However, the concern is
not only in the leadership of the church, but also extends
into the home.
It is vital that believers pass on their excitement and love
for God to the youth, so that they too may have that same
passion for building a more intimate relationship with Him. It
is easy to imagine a world where this were to happen. The
vision would include much joy, peace and prosperity for God’s
blessings would abound! However, the vision would be harder
for a person to want to see if the passion for Christ did not
exist; if believers did not teach the importance of spiritual
growth in Christ. A world without Christ would be a world
abounding in sin! Parents who are believers and who know God’s
Word are responsible for sharing that word with their children
as well as others around them. However, it is not enough to
just share the Word. I honestly believe that others, including
children, can see the passion and fire in a believer’s heart
because it is reflected. The key to being in love with Christ
is to know Christ in an intimate manner. I believe if an adult
can grow to understand this point and practice it, they will
not want to keep this love and excitement from their children
and their children’s children. However, I also believe the
contrary is true. If an adult does not grow spiritually to
understand this point and practice it, they will unavoidably
keep this love and excitement from their children and their
children’s children.
Nevertheless, the truth still exists that Christ came to save
a dying world and a dying world we are, but HE CAME! HE SAW!
and HE CONQUERED! There is hope for His people and that hope
is in Christ Jesus. As Believers, we must continue to grow in
our walk with Christ and grow to be unashamedly in love with
Him. Let us pray as Paul prayed in the book of Philippians,
“For my determined purpose is that I may know Him that I may
progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted
with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the
wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that
I may in that same way come to know the power out-flowing from
His resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I
may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed
in spirit into His likeness even to His death, in the hope,”
Philippians 3:10(Amplified). In this way, we will keep our
children and our children’s children from perishing. Praise
God for his endless love!
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