If you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died for our salvation, and rose again on the third day, eventually ascending to sit at the right hand of the father, then you are a Christian. If you are a Christian then you should follow the example that Jesus Christ sets in the Gospel. Jesus Christ flipped the world upside down, he was counter cultural then and he still remains so today. He gave us a depth of understanding, a challenge to become fully human, and a way to exist by loving others with complete abandon. He told us if someone hits you turn the other cheek. He said to love those who hate us. He told us to love the outcast, to give all you have to away, to love beyond the way our culture “loves” others. He asks us to take up our cross and to be crucified in his name. This journey is not a safe one, it is not the popular journey, but it is our life’s calling if we call ourselves “Christian.”
Christians don’t just follow Jesus Christ in the big choices of life but the small ones as well. How do you treat your neighbor? How do you handle those who hate and disrespect you? How do you give what you have to others? How do you love selflessly in your every day life? Our culture says to throw the swiftest punch, to strike before struck, to have the advantage, the upper hand in all that we do. To be manipulative, controlling, and powerful. To have goals of power, wealth, fame, and pleasure. Jesus Christ says the least shall be the greatest, take nothing for the journey, there will be pain involved in this life. This Christianity is counter cultural today. Every day people should recognize our Christianity, not by our words, but by our actions, by our love.
Are you a Christian in more than your beliefs but by the way you live your life? Do you lead a life that is counter cultural?
