(Synopsis: Don’t you find it interesting that the most successful man in history used the word “meaningless” to describe his life?)

 “So I became greater than all who had lived before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing after the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.” - Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

This morning I woke up and listened to a sermon by Pastor Michael Durso (PMD). The sermon was entitled, “Breakfast on the Beach,” and he preached it on Tuesday July 6^th at church (I’m telling you all this so that you can buy the sermon either online or at Bell Tower). The sermon was amazing, and exactly what I needed to hear. He read from John 21, where Jesus appears to the disciples on the boat. After they put their net down like Jesus said, and catch a net full of large fish, they end up on the beach having breakfast with Jesus. I can do the sermon no justice by trying to describe it, but I will say that PMD touched on several things that spoke directly to my heart. Firstly, he said that sometimes we don’t know what is going to happen next. We might be in situations that are uncertain, and we may not understand what God is doing, or how these situations will end. But, if we listen for God’s voice over all of the craziness, we will hear him speaking to us. There’s no need to fret or freak out, because God has everything under control. Secondly, just as Peter dove into the water when he realized that it was Jesus who was calling him from the beach, God wants us to dive into whatever plans he has for us. He wants us all to dive in head first into our spiritual destinies. Go buy the sermon, or ask me to borrow it to hear the rest, because it is powerful!

            After I heard the sermon and allowed it to sink in a little bit, I opened by Bible, because I decided that I too want to have breakfast with Jesus. I am up to the book of Ecclesiastes in my chronological Bible. Ecclesiastes is one of those books that God had me read seven years ago when I rededicated my life to him. It truly spoke to my heart, just as it had 7 years ago. For those who may be unfamiliar with the book, it is basically a collection of thoughts/teachings from Solomon’s last years on earth. Solomon was the wisest man to ever live, and the richest King the world has ever seen. Solomon had everything that the world would deem as important. Money, fame, women, property, knowledge, etc. Chapter 2 describes how he had houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, reservoirs, slaves/servants, herds, flocks, silver, gold, singers, and a harem. He described all of these things as “the delights of the heart of man.” He denied himself nothing and refused his heart no pleasure, yet when he looked back at all of his possessions, all of his hard work, all of his “successes,” all he could say was that it was all meaningless. The book of Ecclesiastes only has 12 chapters, yet the word “meaningless” appears over 40 times throughout the book. Don’t you find it interesting that the most successful man in history used the word “meaningless” to describe his life? A man who had all the things a human could want looked back and regretted everything? How can that be? It’s quite simple…all of Solomon’s blessings turned his heart away from God. Solomon had all the provisions necessary for him to do more for God than anyone, yet he got distracted and he got caught up in the world. He took his eyes off God and decided to focus on the world. Pleasure, money, fame and success got in the way of all the plans God had for his life.

            My main fear is that I will look back at the end of my life and realize that I missed the plans God had for me. My fear is that I will look back and see that I could have done a lot more for God. How horrible must it have been for Solomon to look back and realize that he missed out on God’s plans? How miserable he must have been! How distressed he must have been to know that he wasted his life. I do not want this to happen to me; in fact, I refuse to have this happen to me. Reading this has once again reminded me that unless you’re doing something for God, it’s meaningless. Riches, fame, success, intelligence-what will these get you at the end of your life?

            I want to be like Peter, who despite messing up, dove in head first after Jesus. Do you realize that Peter cursed God, denied Jesus, abandoned the Messiah and cut someone’s ear off with a sword? And then, two weeks later, Peter dives into the plans God has for him. Despite all his failures, Jesus called Peter and asked him to tend his flock and be the father of the Christian church. We have such a merciful God! I don’t really know how to end this, except to say that I want to be like Peter. I want to dive in head first into the plans that God has for me, because I don’t want to “chase after the wind” or live a meaningless life. At the end of my life, I want to know that I did everything I could for the Kingdom of God. Don’t you?

More later,

Gabriella

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Phil 1:21

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1

            While I was on the other train the other day, I was thinking about how Christianity looks from the outside. If I were a Muslim or an atheist or a Hindu, what would I think about Christianity based on what I see in America? It occurred to me that I would think of American “Christianity” as being quite laughable. It’s a joke, and the most hypocritical thing I have ever seen. About 10% or less of “Christians” here actually practice what they preach, and even fewer are striving to be like Christ on a daily basis. (I can feel ppl already picking up the stones to throw at me lol). How many Christians that you know actually follow what the bible teaches?? How many Christians actually represent Christ? Oh how ridiculous we must look to the world!! I am so sick of Christians saying that all God wants us to do is try hard to be good and follow him! That is not true! The harder we try, the more we fail...haven’t we learned this already? The more we try in our own human strength to be better Christians, the more we fail and get frustrated in the process.

            Take a look at Christianity in America…what do you see? I see televangelists who skirt around the true gospel and speak motivational messages about prosperity and self-help theology…things that Christ never preached on! Or, I see tons of “Christians” not at all walking in the path of Christ and not striving whole heartedly to be like him. Instead, they are having sex outside of marriage, partying, and dating people they have no business dating and living lives of complacency where they attempt to fit Jesus into their lives instead of making him the center of their lives. I see people who are striving to be comfortable instead of striving to be different. The bible talks about striving for eternal prizes, not earthly ones, yet we find ourselves pursuing money and success more than Christ. We spend more time on facebook than we do in the word. We have 3 hrs of TV shows dvr’d every night, yet barely spend 20 minutes with God. We are addicted to TV shows yet not addicted to becoming more like Christ. One of the main passions of ALL followers of Christ in the bible was to lead others to Christ, yet that has become one of the least important goals of Christians today. Why aren’t we striving to lead others to Christ? How can we be comfortable living mediocre lives while millions of people in the world are living without Christ? We have the answer, yet we are too cowardly to tell others. We have lasting peace and joy yet selfishly keep it to ourselves. Why is this? What has happened to the body of Christ?? What have we become? Why is our generation so different from the generation of Christians in the bible? Why are Christians so divided? Why cant we show the world the love of Christ? We have become laughable Christians who have strayed so far from Christ that we barely deserve to bear the title of Christianity. We have so tainted and soiled the name of Christ that instead of bringing hope and salvation, “Christianity” comes across to people as being judgmental, hypocritical, anti-homosexual, too political and old fashioned (taken from studies seen in the book “unchristian”). I pray that Christ has mercy on us!  

            I do not want to be a laughable Christian. I want to be a passionate follower of Christ that is so in love with Jesus that everyone around me feels his presence. Jesus promised us that we would do greater things than he did while he was on the earth because we have the Holy Spirit...yet we aren’t doing it. We have so much power at the tips of our fingers, yet we aren’t tapping into it. We have become a cultural religion where we think its okay to go to church 1-2 times per week and live our “good” lives. As Francis Chan puts it, “we go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss…” This is a true reflection of how most Christians think they should live. Christianity is not just about living without sin. We aren’t here just so we can “not sin.” We are here to make a difference in the world and “preach the gospel to all nations.” We are here to be the lights of the world and to lead people to the hope and salvation of Christ. Something is wrong, people! We are wrong! And it is time to change. It is time to reverse the curses of complacency, luke-warmness and nominalism that America has placed on Christianity. It is time to step up and embrace the true form of Christianity that Christ intended for us to live. How do we do that? Simple. We need to surrender our lives to Christ and fall passionately in love with him all over again. We don’t need to try. We simply submit to him, and awesome things happen. Are u a laughable Christian? Don’t be anymore! It’s time for something different!! Join the revolution of Jesus followers who are giving it all up for Christ. Don’t get left behind…

In the matchless name of the Father,

Gabriella

 ^“When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, "My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me. Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, "When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?" The king will answer, "Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me. Then the king will say to those on his left, "Get away from me! You are under God's curse. Go into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! I was hungry, but you did not give me anything to eat, and I was thirsty, but you did not give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, but you did not welcome me, and I was naked, but you did not give me any clothes to wear. I was sick and in jail, but you did not take care of me." Then the people will ask, "Lord, when did we fail to help you when you were hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in jail?" The king will say to them, "Whenever you failed to help any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do it for me." Then Jesus said, "Those people will be punished forever. But the ones who pleased God will have eternal life."

“Matthew 25:31-46 (Contemporary English Version)

The words written in the passage above came directly from the mouth of Christ and cannot be ignored. After reading it, I am both grieved and scared, because I know that I have a lot of work to do before I face God one day. This passage is read many times by Christians, yet we fail to do what it says. We do not understand what it really means. Do we give the hungry food to eat? Or the thirsty something to drink? Do we welcome strangers and aliens (immigrants) into our country and homes? Do we clothe the naked or take care of/visit the sick? Do we visit those who are in jail? In this passage we can come to understand that Christianity does not consist of simply going to church or a Christian college. It does not mean simply having Christian friends and serving at your church. Christianity is so much more!! Christ is urging each of us to be missionaries where we are, which means that he has called us to go to the needy people in our world. He has called us to the lost, yet we spend 90% of our time with those whom Christ has already found. One thing I find interesting and scary in this passage is the second half, where Jesus says that those who FAIL to do these things are under God’s curse. That is remarkable to me because most Christians don’t do what Christ commands us to do on a regular basis. When was the last time any of us did these things? We pass by hungry people on the streets every day and do nothing. There are thousands of prisoners where we live, yet we fail to visit them. There are so many people dying in hospitals and hospices, yet we rarely visit them. We are so caught up in our own lives that we rarely look to the needs of our most needy citizens. We have redefined what Christianity is supposed to me, and unless we get back to the original meaning of Christianity, we are all in for a surprise when we face Christ. Brothers and sisters, this passage is truly revolutionary. If more Christians took this verse to heart it would turn our world upside down. But instead, we have largely ignored it, which is why American Christianity (which I have renamed American “Churchianity”) has such a bad reputation. I am scared to think of the many surprises that will meet “Christians” when we face Christ one day.

Social justice issues are intrinsically linked to our Christianity. To be a follower of Christ means that we are striving to be like Christ, and represent Him to a lost and dying world. This includes caring for the poor, orphaned, and disenfranchised people of the world, of which there are many. We cannot call ourselves believers without caring for the things that Christ cared about. We cannot call ourselves Christians if we have no concern for the needy people of our world. I think that is why Jesus said that when we do things for the poor and needy, we do them for him. If we really love Jesus, we will love who he loves, and see Jesus in everyone. I think the quote by Erwin McManus (author of The Barbarian Way) sums it up perfectly, “True religion always moves us to serve others and to give our lives to see those oppressed find freedom.” This means that those of us who are true Christians will want to spend our lives helping people find the same freedom in Christ that we have found.

Throughout the next few months, I will be attempting to write about social justice issues and link how they are connected to Christianity. I will also be writing about how each of us can make a difference in our world. Some of the issues I will be focusing on include: poverty, orphans and street children, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, Immigration, prisoners, unreached people groups, illiteracy/lack of education, and persecuted Christians.  All of these issues are issues that are close to the heart of Christ, and because of that, they should be close to our hearts as well. I urge you during the next few months to pray and ask God to open your eyes to the needs of our world. I urge you to ask him to give you his heart, love and compassion for the people living in this world. I urge you, more importantly, to ask God that he helps us to go back to the original meaning of what it means to be a Christian. Nothing will change unless we ask God to help change us first.

In Christ alone,

Gabriella

“We have ended up with the sort of Christianity that arose after Constantine, in which everyone can be a Christian but no one knows what a Christian is anymore. Yet over and over in the Scriptures, Jesus warns people of the cost of discipleship, that it will cost them everything they have ever hoped for and believed in-their biological families, their possessions, even their very lives. He warns them to count the cost before putting their hands to the plow. And Jesus allows people to walk away.”

Shane Claiborne, ‘The Irresistible Revolution’

“If we were to set out to establish a religion in polar opposition to the Beatitudes Jesus taught, it would look strikingly similar to the pop Christianity that has taken over the airwaves of North America.”

Shane Claiborne, ‘The Irresistible Revolution’