Day 2952 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Psalm 119:139 NIV

Now I know that many of the things I’ve said and shared in these posts may have seemed somewhat grating or offensive or even ill-mannered. But I think sometimes hard questions go unasked simply because we’re afraid of the answers. And while is it always more comfortable to avoid the things that speak to our insufficiencies, if we never address them then we can never improve them. And well, I just believe that we’re called to do more than simply live as if we’ve already reached the goal.

So can we be honest for a minute? Where is our zeal? Where is our fire? Where is the outrage and disgust and inability to simply stay silent? Where did we lose our fight? Why did we lose our fight? How can we fight the good fight without our fight? And how can we fight this good fight without realizing that there will be enemies? And how can we understand who or what it is that we’re fighting if we never draw a line in the sand that we simply refuse to cross?

Can we honestly say the same as the Psalmist? Does our zeal for God wear us out? Are we sick to our stomach of watching the world live in such blatant opposition to our Savior? Have we not grown restless over the wicked displays of wanton immorality being praised all around us? How can we keep turning a blind eye to the chains being sold as entertainment, acceptance, inclusivity, love? How can we not be entirely irate over society stealing, hijacking, rewriting and rejecting everything that God has breathed out for our benefit?

How much longer can we ignore that we exist in a world so clearly lacking an interest in honoring Him? Does our fervor and this intensity we ought to have inside bring about the sadness and anger and urgency to stand up and speak out and share the truth of God's Word more boldly than ever before?

Does our zeal wear us out, or is our zeal worn out?

We live in this world that has done everything it can to convince us that we can't do anything. We've been indoctrinated to never judge, to never argue, to never fight back, to never stand our ground, to never rock the boat, to never hurt anyone's feelings, to never go against the current, to never speak out against the powers playing like they're in charge, to never be more than pliable little puppets who live and serve and speak and exist completely at the whims and wishes of the society that seems to think they control things.

But when did we finally accept defeat and simply agree to sit on our laurels and pretend as if we're not here to do more than simply survive until we're dead?

When did we agree to sit idly and quietly upon the fringes of a society growing more twisted and wicked with every passing hour? When did we agree to silence the fire burning in our souls that yearns for us to shout the truth of God's Word for all the world to hear so that all the world might be saved? When did we let go of the calling to spread the Gospel and simply agree to keep it to ourselves?

When did we agree that the Gospel shouldn't be talked about, shouldn't be stood upon, shouldn't be fought for, shouldn't be offensive?

Friends, somewhere along the way, this world went and got this idea in its head that it didn't need God. The world operates in such a way that displays quite clearly that He is not welcome. Anymore, many of the things we see and hear being pushed and praised and lauded and applauded are so detestable and disgusting that I simply find it odd that there's not more concern, more questioning, more contention, more outrage.

Have we truly become a church unwilling to fight this good fight? Have we grown either unable or uninterested in contending for the Gospel? Have we run out of steam, of courage, of heart? Have we simply decided to bide our time until Christ returns and to do so in the least offensive and grating manner possible?

Have we forgotten who we are?

It truly seems as if we have. Maybe we're just shocked by it all. Maybe we're kind of reeling from the downfall picking up speed. Maybe we're trying to figure out ways to do what we feel we're supposed to do without ticking off those that have made it clear that what we're supposed to do isn't welcome. Or maybe it's just that we're not quite ready to fully invest ourselves in this calling to the point where we actually may have to risk something.

Make no mistake, a faith that holds no risk is no faith at all. It's half-hearted hope. It's a blind belief. It's a completely incomplete construction of a distant ideal without a single path that seems to ever lead toward it. It's an assumption that it'll all just work out and that, because of that, we don't have to work at it. It's a mission without a map, a path without a purpose, and destination that'll never be more than a dream.

Because if it requires nothing from us then it can offer nothing to us.

And as sad and hollow and pointless as that seems, it seems to be exactly what much of faith has been allowed to become in this world where faith is not welcome. We've let the world wear us down, beat us into submission and confine our faith to the outskirts of reality where it's simply not a problem for the world anymore, because we've become too weak and afraid to cause any problems.

The problem with religion today is that not enough people want to kill the preachers.

Look back at the well-read stories that recount the heroes of faith who've walked this road before us. All of the big names from the Bible that we all know so well have one massive thing in common: the world wanted them gone, but they didn't simply go away.

Why have we?

I think maybe one of the biggest issues is that we've kept pretending that we haven't. We come up with all of these nifty little ways to make faith seem less offensive. We find ways to deliver our presentations so that the words don't sting so badly. We look for ways to invite the world in so that the world feels welcome. But all we've really managed to do is to water down the truth of our faith to the point where a sermon is really nothing but a show.

We've lost our zeal because it's not cool, not common, not popular, not understood. We've allowed the world to tell us who we can be and how we can be it, and like the good little boys and girls we're expected to be, we've quietly done just as the world has told us to do. We've walked away from the front lines, crawled into our cozy little hideouts and stopped speaking the truth.

Can you imagine what the world would look like if we had the spiritual tenacity found in those who fought wars, overthrew kingdoms, conquered enormous armies, stood up to giants? Can you imagine if our faith made us look crazy enough to build boats in deserts and march around cities playing music expecting walls to fall? Can you imagine if we lived our faith so boldly that the world hated us?

Can you imagine the misery of being hated? Can you fathom a life spent entirely unwelcome in this world? Can you imagine being put on trial for doing something so good that this wicked world couldn't understand it? Can you imagine being mocked and beaten and belittled and betrayed and left all alone?

Sounds horrifying to us doesn't it? To be excluded. To be hated. To be unpopular, unwelcome, unloved, unappreciated, unknown. Sounds terrifying. Jesus probably didn't always enjoy it either. But He walked it. Why can't we?

Can you imagine a world where the practice of our faith wasn't hindered by a fearful consideration as to how or when or where we display our faith? Can you imagine life without worrying about what others think, what others threaten, what others demand?

I think the biggest question that we need to ask ourselves in light of the kind of faith we see and share today is where did that ancient boldness go and when did we lose it?

Truth be told, there's an awful lot of fear in our hearts anymore. Not the fearful respect of God Almighty but the pitiful fear of mankind. It's a gross consideration of society's demands over and above God's commands. It's a sad willingness to seek to make our faith fit within the confines approved of by the world in which we live. It's a watering down of this eternal calling to serve others. It's a failure to be who we've been called to be, and in turn, a failure to do what we've been called to do.

It's a hesitancy, a weakness, an agreeance that the world is the one who tells us who to be and how to be it. It's a failure to uphold God. No other way to put it. In trying to make our faith seem pleasing to a world unwilling to even listen to why we believe, we've chosen the easier path of lesser resistance found in trying to please mankind. In order to help make our faith become more welcome in a place that has never and will never welcome it, we've cut it up and tossed aside the bits and parts and pieces that we know won't be well received.

When did we agree to become the teachers who are only gathered into the warm embrace of a cold and darkening society because we only say what itching ears want to hear? And when did our ears stop listening to the One who we claim to serve? It's clearly happened, that fact grows more impressively profound all the time. Because we don't even balk at the sights and sounds being shared by a truly sinful society.

It's amazing what we can overlook when our outlook is simply to just get by. It's amazing what we can ignore when really put our hearts into ignoring it. It's amazing the things we'll quietly agree with just so the world doesn't usher us into the wasteland. It's truly amazing just how far we can bend in order to try and fit in in two very different places.

But at some point, bending becomes breaking, and if our faith really means as much to us as we so often pretend, then we shouldn't be willing to let it come anywhere to being broken apart by the demands of a world we don't plan on staying in.

Does our zeal wear us out, or is it worn out? Do the vile things we see and hear make us feel sick inside, or are we numb to it all? When we see the downfall quickening and sucking down more and more of those around us, do we feel any kind of urgency to try and help, or do we just stand there and pray for Jesus to do what we were never willing to do?

Are we willing to stand up and serve our Savior and risk whatever comes from doing so, or do we just wish He'd hurry up and come back so that we don't have to?

Friends, to say that we've forgotten what our faith is capable of doing, of being, of accomplishing is a pretty big understatement. But to say that it can't be bold or courageous or intense or extreme or whatever else the world may wish to label it is simply false. It is still what it has always been. It still moves mountains, parts seas, topples kingdoms and renders the grave powerless.

If we choose to cling to a faith that's welcome in this world, then we're the ones losing out. But we'll not be the only ones losing out. We will also fail those to whom we've been asked to go. We will fail to be who Christ called us to be. We will fail to help those we could have helped. We will fail to make a difference simply because we will live afraid of making an impact because we've been told that change isn't welcome.

This world still hates God, and many aren't even pretending otherwise anymore. We're surrounded by a kind of evil that grows more widespread and damaging every day. And if we're not willing to stand up against it, then where do we draw the line? Can we draw a line? Or are we more content with not being worn out by holding tightly to faith that the world is doing everything it can to deny?

It ought to bother us that things are as bad as they are. It ought to bother us that every single day we walk past people who may know nothing of the Gospel. It ought to bother us that even religious organizations are trying so hard to make the world like our faith that they've lost the truth to do so. It ought to bother us that the darkness is still succeeding.

But does it? And if it doesn't, then why doesn't it? We can be sure that it bothers God. And if it means enough to Him to send His Son to set things right, then how can we sit by and watch it unfold without ever at least trying to help the world find His Son before it's too late?

We never had to accept defeat, and even if we have, we're still alive and so we can get back in the game, get back in the fight, and get back to contending for our faith like it deserves. This world may not like it, but they don't have to. We just can't keep wasting so much time trying to make it sound or feel more pleasing to humanity. Because it's not about pleasing humanity, it's about saving humanity. And that ought to be worth risking whatever we need to risk in order to help people avoid the well-earned damnation this place is itching to find.

How can we watch a world race toward the flames and not do anything, not say anything, not call attention to the wickedness that is fanning those flames higher? How can we watch the world crumble and not care enough to tell everyone of the One who came to save us from that end, even if we're hated for it? Friends, if our zeal is not wearing us out, then we're either not paying attention or we’re simply not serving.

Because how can we say we’re serving Christ if we can’t be bothered to stand up against the things that are standing against Him?

#LeaveNoSoulUntold