I stumbled across an Instagram video from Jackie Hill Perry that absolutely rocked my world and convicted me (but also oddly encouraged me at the same time).
Actually, I didn’t exactly stumble across this video as I follow Jackie on a number of social media outlets. But I was not expecting so much truth in so short of an amount of time.
The gist is that holiness and actual Christian living is so rare because lukewarm living has become the accepted norm and standard in most churches and (sadly) in most pulpits. Taking up your cross daily and dying to self is almost a foreign concept in a lot of what passes for Christianity in America.
I’m just now recalling a book that I read along the same lines a long time ago by Watchman Nee called The Normal Christian Life. His premise was that Jesus was the only one to live the normal Christian life and that what we consider normal is abnormal because of how far we have fallen below the standard Jesus set.
The normal Christian life is an impossible life. Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, no one can live out the Bible’s idea of the Christian life. People (even in churches) will think you’re being extra or going way beyond. They will actually try to hinder you and ridicule you for living the way Jesus called us to live and the way that honors Jesus in the way He deserves.
The sad truth is that if people saw this kind of holy living, they’d be way more drawn to it than they are by any watered-down, non-threatening halfway attempt to follow Jesus and appease the world. C. S. Lewis said “Holiness is irresistible. If even 10% of the world’s population had it the whole world would be converted and happy before the year’s end.”
I don’t know if everyone would turn to Jesus, but I absolutely believe that way more people would want to know this Jesus if they saw real holiness lived out.
Here’s the link to the original video that blew my mind and my world:
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