* Christ followers or Christian

Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. –C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory


This quote convicts me to my core. How true it is to me that I ride the fence in my relationship to Christ. The original coined phrase of "Christian" was meant as a negative put down. It means Little Christ. We, followers of Christ, however do not find the term to be offensive. Well... maybe until now. Let me explain. There is this joy to be associated with Christ. Whether it is popular or not to be so closely associated to Christ that others might say "He (or she) is like a little Christ running around" would be a great honor. However, I do believe in today's culture the word "Christian" has gotten new associations. It no longer means a reflection of Christ but yet a devouter to rules and laws and even hypocrisy. Sounds harsh, I know. We have strayed from the idea to be so filled with His Spirit that those around us could not reject the fact of who our Lord is. But in stead have traded in a relationship and worship of and with our God for love of tradition and heritage. I do not believe Christ is honored when we forget Him in our daily doings. Are we following Christ or are we following tradition? Have we fallen in love with doing church well that we have betrayed our love with God Himself? Now don't get me wrong, this is not a church bashing session. But we have got to stop and look around and see what are we investing in. Are we investing in our love with Christ and following through with action? Or are we investing more time and energy in preforming a better, smoother program with Christ standing outside our doors. And this is not speaking of leadership but I am speaking about the whole body. You, me, the guy sitting next to you. What are you investing in? What am I investing in? If you can say Jesus, than Hallelujah. Praise God. As for me, honestly it has not been until recently when all has been striped away that I HAVE had to invest more in my relationship and not be so easily content with my mud pies in the slum. I pray that one day I will be able to truly have a better comprehension of the Holiday at Sea that the King has awaiting for me.