God here arrives on a mission of mercy, with good news of great joy. And what makes the arrival of the Lord Jesus good news is not only that He arrives as king, but that He also arrives as Savior. Instead of coming in just judgment, God comes to mercifully secure the salvation of all the subjects of His kingdom.
The teaching is that the only stipulation of being a Christian is to say a prayer, walk an aisle, or invite Jesus into your heart, with little or no talk about true transformation, dying to sin, or living in holiness, and thus, the significance of the name “Christian” is severely diminished. The result is a generation of nominal Christians who have no concern for imitating Christ, obeying Christ, or walking in a manner worthy of the name. And this is a “Christianity” which cannot hope to impact the world.
In our culture, there seems to be a “Jesus” for almost every group and movement. There is a democrat Jesus and republican Jesus, moralist teacher Jesus, social justice Jesus, activist Jesus, environmentalist Jesus, hippie Jesus, free love Jesus. Instead of being conformed into the image of the Son, we imagine Him to be just like us, taking some of the things we like about the person of Christ, and then mixing in whatever we want Him to be.
We give thanks for his great faithfulness, when ours is so small. For his strength, because we are so weak. His courage, when we are so fearful. His comfort when we are hurting.
What has been propagated by many Christians in recent years is a sort of “American Dream Christianity.” The purpose is to pursue and attain whatever is desired in this life—relationships, jobs, wealth, health, comfort—with religion, church, and God fitting neatly into their respective places. God becomes a component of one’s life, but never the whole of it.
It is nothing new for Christians to struggle in their prayer life—we don’t think we have the time, we get easily distracted, or we’re simply apathetic towards the command to pray. This should lead us to ask the question, do we think that prayer really works? Do we believe it is effective in accomplishing goals? And if it is, why are we not more committed to it?
It should not come as a surprise that our culture has completely rejected God’s law—or that many churches are now beginning to follow. Our question must now be, “what are we to do about it?”
When you think about it, it must be very difficult; we should seek to understand, be truly empathetic, and certainly tenderhearted, but we must not make the category error of confusing sacrifice with the struggle against sin.
