Walk on The Ceiling
Have you heard the country song, “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s”?
It claims that pre-technology afforded an easier time of dealing with things because you didn’t know what was happening in real time.
Things might have been easier in previous decades. I know being a Christian was a lot easier in my younger days. Most people claimed to be Christians then. Almost everyone I knew went to church on Sunday morning. Sports were not scheduled during church times. Even gas stations and stores took turns opening on Sundays. Most things were closed. It was a time for faith and family.
It was a comfortable way of life. I’m not sure it was a productive way to grow God’s Kingdom – to further God’s reign and rule. We Christians weren’t really making a distinctive difference. And that is probably one of the reasons that the church has not grown, but shrunk, since those days.
As Kyle so often tells us, transformation only occurs when we are out of our comfort zone.
When Kyle pointed out that Paul and Silas made a distinctive difference in only three weeks in Thessalonica, it challenged me to think if I had made a difference for God’s kingdom in all these years.
Getting out of our comfort zone isn’t easy. It is hard. Paul and Silas “turned the world upside down.” They, as Kyle put it, “walked on the ceiling.” Okay, I have trouble staying upright and now I have to walk on the ceiling? Talk about challenging!
Today’s culture is not easy for the Christian. We are in the minority. Our beliefs are opposite of what the media and majority portray. We are scoffed and mocked. It is hard to go against what has been deemed culturally acceptable. And yet, we must.
We must be honest and share the Gospel the way Jesus did. He didn’t water it down or mix it up with different points of view (syncretism). He gently, yet boldly, shared the Good News and backed it up with Scripture.
What is stopping us from doing what Paul and Silas did? What is stopping us from making a truly distinctive difference in God’s kingdom?
-Terri
Terri Venetta lives in Johnston where she enjoys gardening, canning, antiques, watercolors, wool rug hooking, reading and, most of all, her grandchildren
