Today is Good Friday. It's the day my Savior suffered on the cross, bearing the sins of mankind out of love. He knew agony. He knew pain. It wasn't easy. This is the man who is my model. The one I follow. And my life looks nothing like His.
I can't help but think that it's too easy to be a "Christian" in America. We've been disillusioned, thinking that all we have to do is claim the name and warm a pew, then we're good. It's easy to attend Church here. It's easy to sing our songs of praise without fear. If we do fear, it's because we're worried the people around us might think we're too into the worship. It's easy to live in our "Christian" world, surrounded by our "Christian" friends and listening to our "Christian" music. All the while the name "Christian" seems to have taken on a new meaning. It is often synonymous with hypocrite in today's culture.
In reality, it's hard to be a true Christ-follower in America. We have too much comfort and not enough pain. There's too much privacy and not enough scrutiny. We have too much and give too little. We stay too safe and don't risk enough. In other places you put your life on the line to claim Christ. You gather with the believers in secret, because it is illegal. If you are found out, you die. It's hard to live that way here when we have so much freedom. Examine the lives of the disciples. Did they come to death safely, in a pretty coffin? No, they were often tortured and many met violent deaths for the sake of Christ and making the gospel known. We know little of suffering. Paul said his goal was to know Him and the fellowship of His suffering. Is that our goal? We say we love Jesus. Well, His love led Him to the cross and a brutal, cruel death. If we are full of that love, shouldn't it lead us to a similar place?
I'm no expert and I don't claim to know all the answers, but I get the feeling that we should be worried if our "Christian" life is easy and void of suffering. And I'm not talking about car problems, having to wait in line at a restaurant or having a cold. Our Savior is one who bore the cross. I want to follow suit.
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