Sunday, January 30, 2005

Hot, Medium Or Mild?



Tonight I drove to Taco Bell--very unusual for me to be out at night and even more unusual for me to pick up something from a taco place (I leave that to Tom). The teenage boy at the window asked if I wanted hot, medium or mild sauce and this will sound wild, but I drove home wondering what kind of a Christian am I--hot, medium or mild?

I guess what really made me wonder, was the fact that I've read some blogs lately whose writers have advocated that we, as Christians, should be rather medium-sliding-into-mild ones. They tell me not to share scripture. Don't talk about my faith. Don't say I am a Christian because I just may be expected to live like one.

They tell me to just be nice. Loving. Blend in so that I don't appear different. Talk like everyone else--even swear--that's fine. Don't quote from the Bible. Be a carbon copy buddy and act like the world in order to win them.

Win them to what? A secret club whose goal is to look like everyone else?

Hot, medium or mild?

What kind of a Christian am I?

I know what I don't want. I don't want to be medium or mild:

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16

I don't want to avoid mentioning Jesus' name to others. If I do, He said he'd not mention my name to God.

I don't want to forget that Jesus used the Word of God to defeat satan. He told us to study it ... that it is a lamp so we'll see the way to go... it brings health... it is wisdom... it is sharper than a two-edged sword when it is rightly divided... and it will last forever.

And He asked how will people know about Him unless we tell them?

I am to be in this world, but not of it. Plain, simple--but it requires sacrifice. And maybe that's the whole problem.

Hot, medium or mild?

As I told the kid at the Taco Bell window, "I'll take hot, please."


***
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light..." ... 1 Peter 2:9

"Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you..." II Corinthians 6:17

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14

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