Many Christians today have an unfortunate aversion to being considered extreme.
They want to be liked. They want unbelievers to view them as fair and balanced. They want the world to see them as reasonable.
Now, Christians should certainly be loving and kind and fair. Our Faith is certainly reasonable, but Christians need to make peace with the fact that to be a Christian is to be an extremist.
To be a Christian is to pick up your cross and to follow Jesus Christ.
Our Faith, if it is a living faith, will impact every aspect of who we are, what we believe, and how we behave. It will leave no portion of our lives undisturbed.
When you embrace the Christian Faith, you are not joining a club. You are joining an army, a body, a nation.
You are joining a Kingdom.
You are submitting to a King, a Lord.
We are called to serve our Savior. It is His opinion alone that should concern us and motivate our choices.
His Kingdom is not of this world, nor are the means of advancing this Kingdom. In place of swords and shields we have Truth and Prayer. Instead of guns and bombs we have love and righteousness.
We are called to show the love of Christ to the world, but we are not free to compromise the Gospel in order to make peace with the enemies of our Lord. We should do everything in our power to be at peace with all men, but we must remember that the Gospel offends the world.
The Gospel distinguishes. The sheep will not get along with the goats.
We should neither expect, nor desire, to be loved by the world.
If we claim the name of Christ, me must be prepared to be labeled as extremists.
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