Lowered Expectations

As a Christian in today's society I find there is a really low expectation of my life and my actions under the definition of being a Christian.
I'm a little surprised that when someone knows I am a Christian and I reveal to them things in my past unbecoming of a Christian, like that, in my past, I lived with my boyfriend (at the time), or that I stole, or that I smoked marijuana, there is not the least bit of surprise on their face. I am even more surpised that when someone knows I am a Christian and I reveal to them the fact that I go to Church it has in fact raised an eyebrow, and worse yet, that I go regularily every week has illicited the 'really??' look. And apparently it is also surprising that I volunteer with my Church on a regular basis. When I mentioned I fast to another Christian, I was hailed as 'a much stronger person than they'.

Why are they not surprised about my greatest weaknesses as a Christian, but are surprised by every day character/actions a Christian should demonstrate? I don't feel like I'm anywhere near the point people should be surprised at my spirituality, yet, they are.

As I mentioned here on my blog previously, this is not the kind of faith we should be leading people into, we shouldn't be allowing people to believe we fall into that definition of a Christian. We are not just wearing a label applied to people who believe in Jesus Christ, and the inside contents don't matter. We are His followers in everything He asks us to do, no matter the cost, and the inside contents are ALL that matters because it is the inside that will create an outside worthy of the label Christian.

Does that mean living the life of a monk just to show we are different? Does God just want martyrs? Or does it mean being a crusader, constantly fighting for the cause, defending the faith? Does God just want heroes? Of course not, all that matters to God is a servant heart, giving up what the rest of the world expects and focusing on serving Him.

Instead of being expectedly self-reliant, we need to be humble and meek. Instead of being expectedly concerned with having enough money/possessions to live our life, we need to realize everything we have is borrowed, and it is such a pitence compared to the promises of being in His company. Instead of being expectedly consumed with 'our time', 'our energy', 'our space', 'our rights', we need to depend on Him to sustain us. And instead of being expectedly entitled to blessings and the 'good life', we need to wake up and read the Bible. There's only, you know, a few verses that forwarn us that being followers of God on earth is not a cake walk. Try doing a Bible Gateway search on suffering in the New Testament. It isn't something we are all called to seek out, but realize that living differently than the world expects us to may just bring it upon ourselves. We are not all that far away from losing religous freedoms in this world completely, and not only will living differently get negative attention but just declaring the truth of God will too. In a not too distant future, it most assuredly will bring suffering upon ourselves.

If you are more scared than excited to start raising the expectation of what it means to be a Christian, believe me you are not alone, I'm actually quite nervous about these words I write, as I write them. But there are a few things that keep me going. First and foremost, it's harder to ignore the truth being spoken into your heart by the almighty God than it is to do what He asks of me. Second, I realize the only thing here on earth that permanently affects me is how I respond to God. Any hardships/suffering that come my way here on earth are only for my betterment and His glory.
And of course the reason I was burdened to write this in the first place. There are youth in this world with more courage than I, willing to elevate the standard they hold themelves to even if the world won't. They are living out 1 Timothy 4:12 in their every day life, and it reminds me I am called to live out my faith like a child. They know they have more to offer this world than it expects of them, and they know it won't be easy, but they also have the unwaivering trust in their Father that we all need. These are just two examples of the youth I admire today:








I hope they spur you on like they have spurred me on. Now go forth and be elevators.