A friend of mine wrote sometimes ago "Christ didn’t establish any denomination while He was here on earth, neither did any denomination made it into the scriptures…mind what you do in the name of my church”, and of course I concur. Proudly Baptist, forever Celestial, I am a redeemer, I am a Winner, I belong to Catholic! True, it is good not to forsake the gathering of believers, it is right to stay committed to a bible-believing church..Yes! but does churchliness or denomination personalization translate to Christianity?
For some time now, the church issue had become a major concern to me, things that were alien and hitherto unknown to me since childhood became so obvious. I see Christians – some consciously, others unconsciously, gradually losing sight and grip of the real/true essence of CHRISTIANITY; we don’t even remember what the first church was like, we’ve totally forgotten the acts perpetrated by the early believers, that eventually earned them the name CHRIST-ians. People around them could behold Christ in them, what about me and you; can the same be said of us?
Rather than live as Christians in deeds, manner and approach to life issues, we are becoming more churchy, indoctrinated, and worldly. The church, as we were taught isn’t the building but individual Christians coming together to live a replica of Christ’s life….but are we actually exuding Christ? I remember a saying in our Yoruba parlance “Ijo ti wonu aiye”(meaning the church has yoked with the world) but I choose to disagree, because in actual sense the church hasn’t, if the church has moved into the world really the world would have turn Christian genuinely.
Today, we see church springing up every now and then like phrats and cult groups, and then we each fight and scramble for our individual denominational interest as if it’s Jesus Himself. I wanna ask, is there denomination in heaven? Jesus didn’t do any of these. I think we should sincerely do the WWJD more than ever…what will Jesus do if He is me right now...would He be a Sunday worshipper alone, or a denominational, churchy, nominal Christian or a christian indeed? We need to live for Christ in reality; we need bring back that helpless soul tending towards eternal perdition and damnation.
In the fullness of time and with the arrival of grace, Christ broke every chain and set us free from every shackles and fetters. And if Christ sets us free, then free indeed we are! Why must we live again as if we’re in bondage by segregating ourselves and creating fractions in the body of Christ? Seek Daily wrote, and I paraphrased “even though Christ brought freedom, not everyone is entitled to it, only those that embrace the Lordship of Jesus, have faith in Him and allow Him make of them what He wants outta them”.
Therefore, help others come to the reality of Jesus…through your daily Christian living. When do you intend adding value to the world as the salt/seasoning that you are or do you want God to spew you out? Being a light, when will you illuminate this world? When are you going to bring this perverse world back to shape and course? When are we gonna experience heaven on earth through conscious Christian living? When will we stop being Christians at home alone, when will we replicate true and genuine Christianity wherever we are? Why do we continue to put ourselves in man-made bondage again? Perhaps, we don’t know that by attaching ourselves so dogmatically to doctrines that are not bible-based, but are put together by overseers and leaders…we are still in bondage. Let your faith and knowledge in Christ give you freedom with which you will not just live practically as a Christian, but also as a world shaker.
Let us consciously explore, through faith and genuine love, the freedom in Christ Jesus. As we operate in it, we’ll bring others into it and then Christianity will become innate…flowing freely from within, without reservation and then it becomes
becomes a lifestyle. There is a wide difference between theoretical and practically living, don’t just read about Jesus, live Jesus daily; and that will make you a practicing Christ-ian.
I want to conclude with this prayer of Apostle Paul to the Philippians…may our love (for Christ and our fellow human) abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may discern what is best and pure and as well blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ (Phil 1:9-11 paraphrased).
Live for Christ, live as a practical Christian!
Insight from SEEK DAILY 2016.
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