I knew a man once who seemed very proud of the life he lived before he became a Follower of Jesus. With a grin, he would elaborate on drunken episodes, sexual exploitation and even bar fights. It was almost as if he was proud of those things. Of course, he often added that all of that was the way he was before becoming a Follower of Jesus. It is wonderful to see the kind of things that Jesus can rescue a person from. The changes Jesus can make in a persons life.
Sometimes a major focus of our life seems to be on the bad we no longer do. One man told me that since he became a believer he had “never hurt” anyone. That was his proof of being a Child Of God. That was the focus of the Church I grew up in— the things we didn’t do. Besides, that was what your testimony was all about, I didn’t have any horror stories to tell. I was 9 when I began to Follow Jesus. How much bad stuff can a 9-year-old do?
Those kinds of things make great stories demonstrating the power of Jesus. But there should be another side.
The Bible says in Acts 10:38 that Jesus went about doing good. You would think that Followers of Jesus should be known for the same things that Jesus was known for and sure enough, Ephesians 2:10 NIV says For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jesus intends for us to stop doing some things. But that is only the first part. The part we often focus on. The second part is carrying out Jesus’ plan for our life. Doing the things he planned for us to do when he remade us. Part of that is bringing Jesus to people where they are, as they are. This is active Christianity not passive. Not just sitting in church and being good but actively engaging our culture as a Follower of Jesus.
Being a Follower of Jesus is not just receiving the blessings our relationship with Jesus brings. It is becoming actively involved in what Jesus is doing today. In our time. In our place. In the lives of people we know and experience. Doing the same things Jesus did when he was living as a man. Actively doing good to those Jesus brings into our life. Bringing healing to the hurting. Eliminating systems that destroy and hurt people. Bringing Justice to our society. Lifting the downtrodden, powerless and oppressed. Feeding the hungry. Freeing those who are bound by circumstances. The list is almost endless but it involves doing away with anything that gets in the way of humans meeting their potential.
Sound easy?
It isn’t. As long as your Christianity is about sitting in Church and not doing some things usually recognized as bad there will be no opposition. Your culture can totally ignore that kind of Christianity. However, when through faith, you begin to actively engage your culture. When you begin to demand justice. To correct systems that hurt people. To lift the downtrodden and give power to the powerless. At that time there will be opposition. There will be a lot of push-backs. The “Powers of Darkness” will see you as a threat to the dark systems of our culture and they will respond. They will respond as they did to Jesus and the early church with persecution, slander and spiritual attacks.
Satan really does not care what you have stopped doing.
He is really concerned when through your actions you begin to spread the Love of Jesus to others.