I see many people who become or are Christians say they accept God, and go to church every Sunday; yet they never open a Bible. They may read along during the sermon on Sunday but that is it. The worst part is many of these people really do love Jesus with all their heart and want to be considered "in his light". Where they fail is that they have not come to the realization that there is the society and world we have created, and then there is the Kingdom of God which He created.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. -1 John 2:15
We should not love the world as we know it, we should love the Kingdom of God, because when our time comes that is where we will continue to live for eternity. I came to this realization a few months ago and it turned my life upside down. I started reading the Bible at least an hour if not up to three hours every day. I began reading many Christian books and listening to sermons on my way to work. Every waking moment since then I have been filling up my mind with anything related to learning about, or glorifying God. When I am not studying the word I am praying throughout my workday and putting into actions the principles of the Bible and obeying the commands God gives me. In short, I thirst for everything Jesus, and this thirst is insatiable. I strive to follow the Bible to the letter. I believe it as all being literal.
I do not say all this to boast by any means, for I am so unworthy of the Lord's loving-kindness, yet forever elated and grateful of his mercy that he would bestow it upon all of us! I type all of the above because I truly believe that when someone finally "gets it", they will exhibit many of the same feelings. Its like you are on fire with the love of the Holy Spirit and you just can't get enough! I see so many Christians that mill about and complain about their lives, or do not understand why certain things happen to them. Little do they know that it is God calling them to become closer to Him. And the longer you ignore Him, the more intensely he will turn up the heat till you answer. I continually pray for all those who are not living according to the Bible, whether Christian or not, that the Lord will let the realization of His truth hit them like a ton of bricks [it’s ok to throw these kind of bricks at people;)]!
As for those of us that do follow the Bible, we know that it is ALL literal. And although we do not always follow it 100% (myself included), we should strive to try with everything in us to do so while working toward that goal. My favorite example is:
If Jesus called upon us right now to follow him what would we say? Before an answer is given consider this...
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
- Luke 9:57-62
Would we be willing to be homeless to follow Jesus? How about leave our dead Father where he lies? Or to go where Jesus tells us immediately, not saying goodbye to our family or knowing if we would see them again in our lifetime? We all claim to follow Jesus, so the answer should be a deafening YES!
This is where many people start saying "Well, that is more metaphorical or figurative or etc." When it starts to come to the hard parts of following Jesus people seem to change their tune a bit. This brings me great sadness. I am practically alone in my answer to the above question. I am saying that I am pretty much alone even among many Christians in saying, "Yes Lord, I will follow you"! However, there is a growing number of people coming together saying "We want the REAL Jesus". I will continue my efforts to find them in my community.
All the same, even if I was the only one, I know it is the truth and I am prepared to stand by it for eternity.
