Heart Tracks - Good Enough?

"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12...."Good enough Christianity.....leads us to travel on a broad road that promises a pleasant life but delivers a wasted life." Larry Crabb

The Bible contains four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Juan Carlos Ortiz says we western believers have come up with a fifth; he calls it the Gospel of the St. Evangelicals. He says that in it, we take what we like, and eliminate everything we don't, especially the demands (commands) of Christ. He calls it an optional gospel; "we receive it if we want, and if not, that's OK too."

Larry Crabb writes that we "Shrink Christianity into a good-enough life of morality, good values, friendly relating, and church involvement designed to win from God the good life of good things that define the abundant life." I challenge any of us to dispute how true that is as concerns what we can call "the American Gospel Message." We give people a message that tells them that if they do things right, live right, they'll reap abundant and joyful rewards. We don't just give the message, we tell people that they're entitled to those things. We present a God committed to our well being, our success, even our comfort. The cross, suffering, dying out to self, crucifying our flesh, these things have no place in the Gospel of the St. Evangelicals. After Jesus transformed Saul of Taursus on the Damascus Road, He gave him a new name, Paul. Then he chose a man named Ananias to take a message to this new convert saying, "I will show him how much he must suffer for My sake." In Ortiz' 5th Gospel, Jesus does not send such messages to his people. In this gospel, He gives us what we want, and sets it all up in nice weekly installments each Sunday.

I have come across far too many believers who have as their central goals having a good marriage, raising good kids who stay off drugs and out of others beds, having a rewarding profession or job, and attaining a comfortable life. That's what His Good News is, and it never contains anything that could be construed as "bad news." Things like suffering, loss, hardships, and times, sometimes prolonged, in the wilderness. There's an old hymn that contains the lyric, "On a hill far away stands an old rugged cross." For many believers, that hill is indeed very far away, as is the cross we're to come to.

Scripture tells us that in the last days we would have a form of godliness (of faith) but deny the power of such a life. That means we acknowledge His reality but know nothing of His power and life. That's what "good enough Christianity" is. It's a form of godliness, of faith, of obedience, of following Him. It's a form, its not the reality of it. Is it what you've been living to this point?

Good enough Christianity is just not good enough. Nothing formed around ourselves ever will be. Ortiz says we have created a Gospel that has made "me" the center of its message. Christ is the Savior, Healer, and King, who has come for me. Self is central. The true gospel message has only one center....Jesus Christ. He doesn't give us a good enough life. He gives us His life, lived out through ours. We live it from His perspective, through His eyes and His heart, with His attitude, and above all, with His sacrifice. Self-life has no place because Christ-life fills all. That's the Gospel. Is it our Gospel?

Someone said that we tend to see three "ways." The wide way is for those horrible sinners that lead openly despicable lives. The narrow way is for pastors, missionaries, and what we call full time Christian workers. For the rest of us there's a middle way. Not so wide, but definitely not too narrow. It's leaves room for lots of leeway, which actually means compromise, evasion of His commands, and of course, the pleasing of ourselves. If this is the way you've chosen, you're on a dangerous path. Proverbs says it leads to death. Crabb says it yields a wasted life. Have you been deceived into thinking such a life is....good enough?

Blessings,
Pastor O