Dear friend,
Jimmy Kimmel asked Kanye a few days ago if he was a Christian artist. Kanye’s response was quite powerful both theologically and culturally. He paused and answered: “I am a Christian everything!” One can only hope that his child-like faith will increase and his zeal continues. His response was a slap in the face to the lukewarm and apathetic lifestyle of modern Christians.
We are approaching one of the most glorious days in the Church Calendar–All Saints’ Day–where we remember the Christian bodies torn by lions and burnt at the stake. These martyrs didn’t embrace a portion of their faith, but all of it. But in our day, we still see the vestiges of the compartmentalization of the faith inside the church. “Just a little church on Sunday, but don’t expect much else from me.” “I am an introvert, so I like to stay on my own,” “There is too much going on for me to get involved.” This is lukewarmness exemplified.
The Gospel affirms Kanye’s response: “I am a Christian everything!” Christian, are you pleased with an abstract and non-committal faith? Are you satisfied with a few words of divine morality? Do you want more? Or are you content with the neutrality of your safe space? Are you willing to embrace the Gospel in all its fullness?
You see, there is no biblical rationale for lukewarmness. In fact, Jesus repudiates that philosophy with harsh language:
“And you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you from my mouth.”
The danger of living an unattached, uninterested Christian life, divorced from the community and fearful of the accountability of faithful Christians is that the first attractive philosophy that comes your way will demand very little except the affirmation that the Gospel has it all wrong. By then, your Christian armor is so punctured by your slumber that you will welcome that philosophy with great ease. Your choice is to stay within or be spat out; to embrace a total faith or little by little distance yourself from the full Gospel. Choose you this day!
In Christ,
Uri