No Boring Believers
I was recently asked a great question by a young, energetic follower of Christ as we sat under the stars at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He wondered out loud, “Why are so many Christians boring and bored?” He expressed disheartening frustration with the many genuine followers of Christ that lacked the ability to let loose in laughter and fun. It appeared to him that many of the Christians that knew how to have fun lacked depth, while the Christians with depth lacked fun.
There is no excuse for crabby Christians and boring believers!! Wake up! Look alive and stand firm! For the JOY set before Him, Christ endured the cross.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 ~ “Be joyful always;”
Philippians 4:4 ~ “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
The word, joy is in the Bible approximately 171 times. Rejoice is found approximately 154 times. This is a major theme of God’s message to us and a defining trait of His heart. Nobody is attracted to something that is boring and dull. On the contrary, nobody can resist that which is joyous and bursting forth with abundant life. The people that we love to be around the most are the ones who can laugh without restraint and then moments later discuss deeply the riches of God’s word and its life giving power.
The photo above stands as a witness to the fact that there are followers of Christ who have put crabby and boring to death. We laughed and cried and sang and danced our way through the Grand Canyon as if we had known each other all our lives. As you look at the faces in this photograph, you most likely will not know who they are or where they live. But I promise you this, wherever they are, there is joy!
I sang a song at camp as I was growing up entitled, Casual Christian. These are some of the words: “I don’t want to be, I don’t want to be a casual Christian. I don’t want to live, I don’t want to live a lukewarm life. ‘Cause I want to light up the night with an everlasting light. I don’t want to live a casual Christian life.” Someday I will dance on golden streets. I’m going to start my dancing now so that perhaps (just perhaps) I’ll have some moves ready for my Savior. Let us cast aside casual Christianity and let loose the joy that cannot be contained.
The Grand Canyon is a great place to resurrect the dancing, rejoicing child in us. It’s a place where joy is natural and begs to be unshackled like a mighty beast set free from a cage. Come out and play!
PRAISEALLUJIAH!
Jon
