A Christian Cliche

The trouble with some profound Christian sayings is that over time they run the risk of sounding cliché. When truth becomes cliché, it loses its effectiveness and the hearer tends to flippantly agree before the statement is finished and having no appreciation. People have asked me why I enjoy reading the Early Church Fathers. I believe that much of it has been because of their proximity to the apostles and their passion for Christ. That in the face of persecution Tertullian writes, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” While desiring God to move, they realized a cliché that we tend to agree with before the statement is finished: If God never did another thing for us, then His love for us through the cross would be more than enough reason to worship Him.

If He never answered another prayer… if He never let us feel or sense His presence again… if He didn’t fix the economy… if He chose to remain silent… He is still worthy of Worship. You’ve probably heard it a thousand-plus times, but I would be willing to say that it has not truly sunk in. I know for me personally, I can get too used to this American brand of Have It Your Way Christianity. I can all too often feel that Jesus wishes to give me the things I desire instead of the very desires He wants. American brand of Christianity can leave me all too often feeling that the music wasn’t good enough or the sermon wasn’t on point. And most terrifying of all, the American brand can leave me assuming that God still owes me something. I would venture to say that according to the ideals that many American Churches put on the market today, the apostles would have been considered utter failures. Eleven out of 12, martyred. In their present day, it must have seemed like there were no “open doors” and no red carpets. But, there was (and is) Good News: Jesus has paid it all. There is power in that revelation. It goes beyond the great praise music. It goes beyond the house, car, and stuff. To the Christian: He took all your ugly, offensive, grotesque, perverted, self-obsessed, greedy, sin; and suffered the cross to pay it all. And that, that is enough. The statement could seem tough… or the revelation could lead you into the greatest rest you’ve ever known. When the worship music moves you, it’s a blessing. When His voice reveals something new to you, what a wonderful grace has been shown to you. When you lay down to sleep at night in a warm bed, get up in the morning to go to a paying job in your car that takes you there, wearing clothes that cost more than most of the world’s housing, please let us not think for a second it was owed to you. It’s all extra. And if it so happens that the “extras” are removed, then you know what? His love for us through the cross is more than enough reason to worship Him.

A work in progress,
eric