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II Corinthians 5:17-21

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I am nothing but a fool; a heap of dirt with enough breath inside to last a few years here on this earth. My physical existence is, as Pascal said, “engulfed in the infinite immensity of space.” But there’s another life arising out of this dust and it’s stronger, more alive, more true. It’s the life of Christ in me, because I have been saved from the eternal damnation I deserve as a wretched sinner by the perfect life of Christ, His death, and resurrection. He accepted the penalty for my sins, that I may now be presented as righteous before a Holy God. This is all by grace, through faith.

I grew up acquiring so much head knowledge of God, Jesus, the Bible, and christianity in general. But my life failed to show it, and I believe there’s a generation of kids and young adults who have grown up hearing similar things I did, who know the facts and there’s maybe even a mental assention of the validity of these facts. But I am convinced, and God’s Word informs us, that there’s so much more to Christianity than that. It takes more than that to save your soul from the eternal consequences awaiting.

So now we’re faced with an abyss of a dilemma. How do we get this information in our head, our mental assertion of facts, to make that arduous journey down to the heart, where it can set it’s roots and flourish and blossom into the sky of our behavior and actions and thoughts? It’s as if the actual distance between our mind and heart is merely a key on a map, and within those 12 inches stand ranges of treacherous mountains and foaming seas which we must now maneuver over and sail through. The task is difficult and, without the tools made available to us by our merciful Father, we would not survive the journey. But He is faithful, and takes pleasure in saving. He will give you the strength, the ideas and the desire. All we have to do is pray earnestly, begging Him to speak light into the darkness of our inner workings. Soon that mocking numbness will fade away, and you will begin to feel and function just as you were created to live.

I know because I’ve experienced it. I stared into the blackness, confused by it’s breadth, yet unaware of my confusion. My life melted into lukewarmness, lacking any real zeal, motivation, life-altering habits or sound worldviews. I just lived in fuzziness, and I believe there to be a growing number of people just like me: Soaking in lukewarmness without realizing the hot water has been turned off for years. We’ve become numb to the power of Christ and the radically transforming work of the cross he innocently and horrifically died upon. A generation of “believers” has slipped into a Christian coma and are on the verge of becoming spiritually braindead. But there is hope, and it’s found in the intrinsic grace of our Father, made accessible through his son Jesus Christ.

Let us arise and live a life worthy of the calling we have received.