Opportunities missed

I was chatting with Beki this morning about an article that I read in YouthWork Magazine which really challenged me in the way that I was doing youth work. It was basically about radical living, and it got us talking about when we were younger, and how ashamed we were of being Christians when we were younger (if you want to know: Beki not at all, and me very much so... Shameful, I know!).

A few months ago, a lot of my friends from when I was in 4ème and 3ème added me on Facebook, and we chatted about what was up in our respective lives. As I told them that I was planning to become a pastor, and that all this time I was a Christian but never really spoke about it or even admitted to it, a lot of them told me that they were in fact devote catholics as well and still are involved in their churches (which is just awesome!). And I was thinking this morning: what an opportunity missed! This school that I went to was a catholic school, not a public school, and so there may well have been the possibility to start a Bible study group or some kind of Christian union, if any of us had had the guts to do it. And then think of the chance to reach out and really make a difference in the lives of the other kids around us!! The school was maybe 200 people strong, and if 10 or 15 of us had met up to pray and talk about God together, the sky really could have been the limit. It would have had a big impact on the world around us, especially as the people who were Christians were fairly high-profile, quite popular people in the school. We would have had the two best basket-ball players (and basket-ball was big in my school), two italian twins who were the first to grow beards (at age 14! Insane! I'm still struggling to put together a half-decent goatie at age 21!), and the best artist in the school, whom everybody found hilarious... We really could have made a difference, but we snuffed it. 

We snuffed it because of shame, because of self-image, because of a desire to conform and a refusal to suffer for the cause of Christ. And I will have to account for that on the last day. I know it. 

Guys, we have a limitted amount of time on this earth. Do you know that, despite what church gatherings seem to suggest, Christianity isn't for the sissies?! It's not for the wimps! You want to follow Christ? You've got to ask God to give you the courage that goes with that calling! Because Jesus promised us that we would suffer, be mocked, rejected and jeered because we follow him and not all that this world holds dear. 

We've got to redeem Christianity in order to redeem this world! Bring on the warriors, the people who aren't scared to stand up, fight and die for the Lord that they swear allegiance to. The Bible asks for no less. We live in a world where courage is totally forgotten. Instead of it being a reason for us to feel depressed concerning our need to reach our world, let's count it a blessing: the current state of affairs, with the serious lack of courage in our fellow men, means that as Christians we will really stick out if we demonstrate courage and guts. And that is the best opportunity we have to make a difference. We have the chance to really grab people's attention if we live the life that Jesus wants us to live. It's now or never: you won't always be in this world. We've got to re-ignite a passion for missions, on our home soil, in France, and in nations, tribes and tongues that are unreached by the gospel.

What do you suggest we do? Are you ready to live and die for the Lord that you swear allegiance to?