Last week I shared my testimony with a group of about 20 students and felt compelled to share a detail I have never included before--it is so easy for me to be a Christian. As I said it, I knew it was true and needed to be said. I have grown up in a Christian home, gone to a Christian school, had Christian friends, and lived in a Christian community. The fact that I am a Christian had never been a burden to me. In fact, if claimed anything but Christianity, people wouldn't know what to do with me.
There are two things I learned as I was saying this: first, is that not everyone has it so easy. The vast majority of people have a million costs they must count when choosing Jesus. Will they lose their homes? Their families? Their jobs? Their lives? In most of the world, becoming a Christian is so much more than saying a prayer and being baptized. It's even more than turning your life around and following Jesus. It is giving up everything you know, understand, and love, and believing it is worth it.
The second thing I learned was more personal. I said, "It is easy for me to be a Christian." I meant, "It is easy for me to go to church and say I am a Christian." It is challenging and convicting, but oh so important for American Christians to remember that there should ALWAYS be costs to being a Christian. I should be sharing my faith in the US just like I would in another country. I should be discipling other believers. There is so much more than what I am doing. In that moment I remembered that I should never be able to say "it is easy to be a Christian."
In Christ,
Chloe
Prayer Requests:
There are two things I learned as I was saying this: first, is that not everyone has it so easy. The vast majority of people have a million costs they must count when choosing Jesus. Will they lose their homes? Their families? Their jobs? Their lives? In most of the world, becoming a Christian is so much more than saying a prayer and being baptized. It's even more than turning your life around and following Jesus. It is giving up everything you know, understand, and love, and believing it is worth it.
The second thing I learned was more personal. I said, "It is easy for me to be a Christian." I meant, "It is easy for me to go to church and say I am a Christian." It is challenging and convicting, but oh so important for American Christians to remember that there should ALWAYS be costs to being a Christian. I should be sharing my faith in the US just like I would in another country. I should be discipling other believers. There is so much more than what I am doing. In that moment I remembered that I should never be able to say "it is easy to be a Christian."
In Christ,
Chloe
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
Matthew 16:24-25 ASV
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for our team as we consider the costs of truly following Jesus and not being nominal Christians.
- Please pray that our students would have boldness to believe that the costs of Christianity are so worth a relationship with God.
- Specifically pray for K and M who believe the Bible to be true, but are wrestling with the repercussions of converting from Islam.