Fear of Following Jesus

Fear is often what keeps Christians from living a life that actually follows Jesus. Sometimes in American Christianity, it is extremely difficult to tell the difference between a Christian and a nonbeliever. That is because many American Christians have stopped embracing risk, and they have focused on embracing a religion that worships safety and moralism. People have stopped following Jesus, and started following a religion. Think about it. You can call yourself a Christian in America, and that religion will encourage you to live in a place that is devoid of poor people, send your kids to school with only other Christian kids who look and act the same as them, save up a bunch of money for "emergencies" and to retire comfortably on, becoming rich and buying bigger houses, and the list goes on and on just as long as a good, nice Christian doesn't drink or swear or show any signs of sin to anyone else. It is the gospel of sin management and keeping up a nice, clean front for others to see.

People sometimes ask me if I am afraid to live in the inner city because of the high rate of violence and perceived lack of safety. Actually, at this point I am more afraid to live in the suburbs because of the dangers of affluence, comfort, individuality, and complacency. I am terribly afraid of losing sight of following Jesus and focusing instead on the religion of American Christianity. It is fear that keeps Christians from actually following Jesus. Think about it. Jesus was countercultural, radical, a revolutionary. He lived a lifestyle that was exactly opposite of the kingdom of men (at the time it was Caesar) and of the religion of morality and piety (represented so well by the Pharisees in the Bible). Today we have established quite a powerful kingdom of men in America, and we also have a powerful group of religous people in America who represent the religion of morality and piety. Most American Christians align themselves with the kingdom of men and the mainstream religous majority instead of aligning themselves with Jesus Christ. Now that is a scary thought! Soren Kierkegaard writes, "To want to admire, instead of follow, Christ is not an invention of bad people; no it is more an invention of those who spinelessly want to keep themselves detached at a safe distance from Jesus." - From Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard

What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of broken people and places, or are you willing to give up everything, including your life, to dive head first into those places as Jesus did in order to be a radical follower of Jesus Christ? Are you a follower of Jesus, or a follower of a moralist religion of comfort, control, and safety? Do people think you are dangerous and radical because you are a Christian, or do they think that you are a really nice, moral, conforming, safe person? Being a follower of Jesus means that you should be living a life that rocks the boat, upsets the comfortable, and cuts right into the heart of anything that is representative of the worship of the kingdom of men or religous piety. It may get your persecuted, or even killed. That's OK... then you'll be getting closer to the point of what it means to actually follow Jesus.