The Barbarian Way - Again

Can you tell that I am really enjoying reading this book? If you haven't read it - YOU NEED TO.

And, you DEFINITELY need to read THIS book if you haven't - it doesn't get better than this.

Let me preface this by saying a few things. Yes, many of my posts as of late have been about the Lord and what He is teaching me. I'm excited about it and I want to share it. That said, I don't have it all together and I am FAR from a perfect Christian. I fail on a regular basis, just ask my husband and children. I'm not claiming by any means to have it all together, I just know the One that does have it all together! :)

Looking back on my Christian journey so far, I would say that my first year as a Christian was incredible. God had radically changed my life and I was SO excited about that. I was active in sharing my faith and zeal for the Lord. I saw God do some amazing things that first year.

It was my senior year of high school and I decided that it would be AWESOME to go to a Christian college. My naive expectation of a Christian college was that it was a place where EVERYONE was excited about God. I pictured going to my Bible classes and learning all kinds of new things, going to chapel and having an all around amazing time. I honestly didn't understand it when the Bible Dept. chair said that he really hoped that I wouldn't come out of my 4-years there with any of my zeal lost.

I understand now.

I think that McManus lays it out there in his book talking about how "domesticated" Christianity has become.

"Yet Christianity over the past two thousand years has moved from a tribe of renegades to a religion of conformists" (p. 5)

"Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing His name. People are being lost because they cannot reconcile Jesus' association with Christianity. Christianity has become docile, domesticated, civilized" (p. 17)

My first year as a Christian I was around more non-Christians than Christians. I was constantly aware that Christ in me may be the only introduction to Jesus that they got. I got to college and, of course, everyone was a "believer" so I let down my guard, I relaxed, I got domesticated in my faith and I lost my zeal. Oh, it came back in bursts but never lasted long as I would start to "relax" again. As ridiculous as this sounds, it was easier to be excited about my faith around non-believers. Even in the "Christian" world, believers excited about their faith are often viewed as crazy, fanatical - probably something you are thinking about me right now. For many years what ever people thought of me trumped what God wanted for me.

"If you are a follower of Christ and you have allowed yourself to be domesticated, you have lost the power of who you are and who God intends for you to be. You were not created to be normal. God's desire for you is not compliance and conformity. You have been baptized by Spirit and fire" (p. 82).

"One of the tragedies of a civilized society is that no one wants to get involved. What becomes appropriate is to mind our own business. When we join a community that lacks a passionate heart for the world, we soon find ourselves acquiescing to apathy. It is a painful tragedy to see a brand-new follower of Christ alive with a barbarian spirit soon conformed to the status quo" (p. 123).

While I am not perfect and I don't have it all together, I strive to be and do ALL that God wants me to be and do. That is my heart. HE is my heart. He saved me from the hell that I so deserve and He redeemed my life. He is an AMAZING God. He blows my mind. Here is the God that created EVERYTHING and EVERYONE around - from generation to generation, from here to the farthest point of the universe, HE made it, and yet He knows me, He loves me and He died FOR ME (and you).


Now that is something to be excited about.

Thank you Jesus for helping me to see that following you is a great adventure and is not meant to be a "civilized" experience. Help me to walk in Your ways without compromise and with an excitement about who You are.