I have a hard time understanding what people are talking about when they complain Christianity is boring.  Now, I definitely understand that a pastor can be boring from time to time, but nothing about Christianity from the Bible isn’t immensely controversial in our society today.  Further, if you are a new creation in Christ as a believer, every aspect of your life should be impacted by the gospel, and God’s Word to you.  So usually I must admit, when someone says that Christianity is boring, I usually assume they have no idea what it means to actually be a Christian.

God means for us to be actively involved in His work here on Earth.  We have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:17-19 – “¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

If you ever played sports, and you had a big game coming up, how did you prepare yourself?  Maybe you ate differently, you practiced more, you scouted out your oponnents, etc.  There definitely was a measure of resolve in yourself that you would push yourself to give everything you had.  That is exactly what God desires for us.

1 Peter 1:13-16 – “¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

also Romans 12:1-2 – “¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Both 1 Peter and Romans give us instruction on how to prepare ourselves for daily battle – to renew our minds in the Word of God, and discipline our lives in obedience to His Word.  Does God promise us that this life will be easy if we prepare ourselves this way… no, he actually says this life will be very hard as a Christian.  No, the world, even today is littered with the blood of Christian martyrs, some of which were killed in Afghanistan trying to give medical service to villagers just this week.  This is why God follows by calling us to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  God is saying, that this life will be hard, therefore we need to earnestly prepare ourselves, but also rest in knowing that the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus is a glory and joy that in an instant will infinitely surpass in worth, any hardships endured to that point.

So how are you preparing yourself for God’s call on your life?  Do you exert similar effort towards renewing your mind and disciplining your life as you do towards work, sports, etc?  My encouragement is to keep pressing hard into the Word of God and discipline your life out of joy knowing that God has uniquely gifted you for a great ministry of reconciliation through Christ.

Grace and Peace,
Adam