#154 – Christian ________

I’m a little sad that Borders is closing down. For a few years Borders and I had quite the relationship. Borders had books that I thought I wanted and I didn’t have a budget; it was a match made in heaven. Even though we haven’t seen each other as much lately, it’ll still be weird not to be able to wave as I drive by.

Yesterday I went to bid my final farewell to Borders and finish off some gift cards. As I walked through the store I realized I was treading the same path I had treaded countless times before. I walked through the entrance and immediately headed for the religion section. After perusing those shelves, I made my way to the science-fiction/fantasy section and saw what it had to offer. I traveled virtually the same path every time I walked into that store, which explains a lot about this blog.

What would it have meant, though, had I headed to the science-fiction/fantasy section first? Would it just mean that this blog would be called “The Nerdy Christian”? Or is there more to the path I chose? 

Jesus makes it very clear what it takes to follow him, painstakingly clear, actually.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” – Luke 9:23-25

Jesus says that if we really want to follow him and be his disciples we must forfeit our lives. Everything that we are and everything that we desire must be subject to him. On the pedestal of our lives, there is only room for Jesus; he’s not going to share.

When I read that verse I puff out my chest a little bit. I feel a little pride because I do go to the religion section first; I refuse to look at books about dragons, wizards and aliens until I’ve examined the latest in Christian fiction and inspiration. I’m denying my nerd nature in order to elevate Christ in my life.

If my life was the sum of my Borders trip, then I would be doing pretty well. But since there’s a lot more to my life, it doesn’t mean a whole lot.

The point of following Jesus isn’t just to look at books by Francine Rivers before J.K. Rowling. The point is to have Christ at the center of everything we do and everything we are. No matter what we do or what paths we choose, Christ should and needs to come first.

We need to be a Christian ________.

Christian nerd.

Christian athlete.

Christian teacher.

Christian student.

Christian business person.

And not just in the sense of a Christian t-shirt or a Christian concert. We don’t just live our normal lives with window dressings of Christianity. We need to be fully committed to Christ and allow his life and his love to impact everything we do.

Whatever the ________ is in your life, it needs to be completely altered and shaped by Christ. The ________ in our lives needs to be broken by the cross and laid at its feet. We need to offer it up to Jesus and allow him to use it as he sees fit. The moment we make the ________ our own, we’re saving it for ourselves and Jesus is clear what happens when we do that.

It doesn’t really matter what section of the book store we go to first: religion, science-fiction or cooking. What matters is when we get there, is Christ affecting our thoughts. And when we carry that beyond the bookstore, when we look at the ________ in our lives, is Christ’s influence there as well?

If we want to be Christ’s true disciples we need to offer up the ________ in our lives and exchange it daily for the cross.

How do you offer up your ________ to Christ?