HI, I’d like a small McJesus with a small side order of McGod please…

Yeah it sounds stupid, right? But think about it, whether you are a Christian, or you know Christians, this seems to be true. We live in a nation that revolves around doing everything Bigger, Better, and FASTER. Most of the time this means our lives become so caotic that something has to take the back seat. Now, somewhere in our lives we want to put Jesus, but we want him just thrown in there, we want it more convenient for us.  So we get the McJesus.

Now, I’m sure you know that we are all guilty of the whole fast food thing. Personally, I love fast food. And we all know that when we go to McDonald’s to get our fix, we want the large everything special. But this doesn’t seem to be the case with the McJesus. Somehow our faith has become one where not only does Jesus take the back seat, he’s squeezed in there tight. We want the one hour Sunday Jesus; the look at me I’m such a good Christian, God/Jesus. But when it comes down to it, most of us don’t want God/Jesus in our lives Mondays, nor Tuesdays, and forget about Wednesdays, and my goodness Thursdays, what about them Fridays, and the big one, party night, Saturdays, you can forget it. We choose to ignore the “follow me,” that Jesus says to his disciples.

“Come, follow me…” Matthew 4:19  “Follow me…” Matthew 9:9 “Come, follow me…” Mark 1:17 ”Follow me…” It’s there why ignore it?

And don’t forget that big law, the biggest one in all the scriptures, the numero uno of the laws…”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

How can we show God we love him if we push his gift to us out of the way. How can we tell people “oh you have to go to Church and do this and that…” If we ourselves don’t do it?

We as a Christian nation need to stop making God and Jesus fit our plans and schedules. We need to stop feeding our souls with the junk food faith that we have. We need to feed ourselves that Good, Big, Filling meal of Faith that God has to offer.

~Amanda~ 

Christian–r u?

      Well, like the title implies, I am, in-fact, Christian.  Actually I call myself a Believer/Follower of Christ.  Let me tell you why.  Not many people truly comprehend what a Christian is.  They think that anyone that believes in Christ, and anyone who believes in God is a Christian, which really isn’t true. So…what is a Christian? A Christian does believe in one God that goes by many names; Elohim, Hashem, Adonai–just to name a few. 

        

       Well, with or without those names you may be wondering “Who is this God?” Well, both Jews and Christians believe in the same all powerful God.  All powerful meaning just what it implies, He has all power. Now, many people will tell you that God can do anything, but in reality, there are things that he can’t do.  He cannot lie, which makes since, if he’s all powerful, anything he says becomes true.  And, He cannot effect free will, he promised that he wouldn’t, and he doesn’t lie remember? (this accounts for all the evil in the world, but that’s another post) So, one all powerful God. We also believe that he created the world and universe and that he loves everyone on a personal level. All powerful, Creating, Loving, Personal God. 

    

       Christians, all of them, Believe in Jesus the Christ (only Messianic Jews believe in the Messiah). So who is He.  He was born to the Virgin Mary, which means he was born with out original sin–after Adam and Eve ate the “apple,” everyone born after was born with original sin that separates us from God.  And the big point, he is Gods only Begotten Son, John 3:16.  Back when there was no Jesus, the only people that believed in God were Jews, and God promised them he would give them a Messiah–Jesus.  So, Jesus is the Savior that the Jews were promised. Of course you may have heard that a lot of the Jews actually hated Jesus and wanted him crucified. Anyway, I digress, Jesus came for the Jews originally, and because of a Samaritan woman, gentiles were also saved, John 4.  So Christians believe in the same God as the Jews, and we believe in the Messiah, that God sent to cleans of us sin, so that we could be with him in Heaven.  If you believe that, and ask for repentance from sins then you receive salvation, and with that comes life after death in eternal paradise with God. Christians also Believe in the Holy Spirit.  The guider.  He lives in the hearts of the faithful, and leads them in their walk. Read the book of Acts in the Bible and you get a lot of information about the Holy Spirit, and I’d recommend that. (BTW just a disclaimer–Jewish people also believe in the Spirit)

        Then there is the Trinity, which says that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three persons in One God (I’ll explain this in a later post).

        So you may be asking, “If you believe all of these things, then aren’t you a Christian?”  Personally, I believe the answer to that is No. Belief in these things makes you a Believer/Follower of Christ (if you believe in Christ you believe in God, I can’t remember the scripture, but that’s somewhere in the New Testament). You are a Christian if you live the Christian lifestyle.

      So many people will say, “I am a Christian,” and then go and live an unchristian lifestyle. Christans are not called to judge people (tell people they are going to Hell), they are called to love people.  Now this doesn’t necessarily mean they associate themselves with everyone, but it does mean that they will try to show you God, and they will try to be nice and accepting of you.  I can’t promise that they’ll always get it right, I mean we all are human. But Christians strive to be Christ-like, and Christ was perfect.  He never sinned. 

       So why do I call myself a Believer/Follower of Christ and not a Christian? It’s not because I don’t strive to be Christ-like (which is what Christian means) it is because I believe that others should look at me and determine for themselves if I am a Christian by the way I act. 

~Amanda~

P.S. These are the things I was taught, and the things I’ve discovered on my own. Minus the scripture and facts, and anything that can be found in the scriptures, These are my opinions. Just thought you should know.