Are you an “American Christian”?

I think sometimes a person believes that a sacrifice is when they cannot pay their television cable bill.

Just this week I picked up my laundry and the man that works there is from Iraq.  He asked me where is Jesus?  He said that a Christian baby had its head removed and put on a stick and he asked me, “Where is Jesus in this?”  I have to say I am an “American Christian” and I was speechless!

I have been to Asia and have seen that people who believe in Jesus and want to serve Jesus need to walk carefully in doing so or they could suffer imprisonment or even lose their life.  As an “American Christian” I have never walked in this fear or oppression.

Talking with the leader of Asiashope.org and hearing how a mother living as a prostitute is dealing with the fact that her 2 year old is in the closet or under the bed while she works her job and knowing that this kid will suffer the same, as an “American Christian” I have no words that I can even speak to talk of this.

Going to a malnutrition orphanage(Orphansheart.org) this summer and seeing a family having to drop their child off so they can hope their 2 year old will start walking and lift their head up, again, causes me to be speechless…

All of these things do have hope!

Praise to God for a Living Hope

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 1 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)

As an “American Christian” do you buy lots of stuff, eat unlimited amounts of food, look at pornography, go to church on Sunday, and choose to ignore the world around you because it does not “effect” you?  It is said the average “American Christian” statistically does all of the above.  Are you going to be just be an average “American Christian”?

Do you believe that your inheritance is not from this world?  Do you believe through all the pain that God’s mercy will rain?  Do you need to change your lifestyle?  Do you need to wake up?  Can you see and hear that Jesus’s hope is real and you can be used by God with your resources to help the kingdom grow?  Are you misguided in your belief or are you focused on the mission?

The real question is:

DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE?