perseverance

The strangest thing about this whole Christianity thing is actually working out what you're SUPPOSED to do. And the weirdest thing is, once you sift and sort through every last little doctrine and rule and sermon and homily and verse of the Bible and what have you, there really is only one thing you're supposed to do. And that's believe in Jesus. But even that one 'supposed to do' thing is so incredibly difficult.

People pray it all the time. Someone will give a powerful message, invite people to come to Jesus and BAM you have 50 000 lives 'saved'. Saved? I don't know. Maybe those lives have been momentarily dazzled, or indirectly misled or even just confused into thinking this Jesus person is something He's not. Some Saviour (which he is), but one that will leap down from earth and give a reason to random circumstances and magically cure you from cancer and the list goes on.

And even so, the ones who GET IT, the ones who've been living it and knowing it and just going through it or putting up with it or however they're dealing with this information/belief (depending on your choices) still get confused. What are we SUPPOSED to do? Okay, just believing this one person doesn't seem to be enough. Everyone talks about reading your Bible (you SHOULD be reading your Bible everyday) and praying (but even then, is prayer PRAYER or is it some big long wish list you send upwards every night in hope it'll come true?). So are we SUPPOSED to do that too? I think the fact is life's gotten so complicated that the whole perserverance thing is just lost. We try, we don't get, we give up.

And is that okay? Didn't the world teach us that? Well, didn't the world teach us that looking good is all that matters? That if you marry someone but they annoy you, you divorce? That if you fail you are miserable and worthless and to just get out of everyone's way?

So, the world has pretty much messed about with our minds so much that we've lost a clear sense of where this is all going. It's probably come to the point where Jesus is a little cloudy in our understanding of him. Through language and powerful words and the fact that slowly but surely, we're becoming more and more sheep-like, looking for someone to follow, and not think for ourselves. But basically? I reckon it all stems from love. If you love this person you believe in, if you actually, truly love Jesus, the other 'supposed tos' aren't 'supposed tos' anymore. They're just things you do because it gives you a chance to be with this person you love. And I'm not saying I'm any good at this at all. I reckon this is where the hardest part of being a 'Christian', whatever that label actually means, is. That as simple as it sounds it's quite possibly the hardest thing to do. And also provides a lovely grounds for atheists or whatever to say 'why believe in something you can't see?'

Why not?