Belief

"For so much of my life I had been defending Christianity because I thought to admit that we had done any wrong was to discredit the religious system as a whole, but it isn't a religious system, it is people following Christ; and the important thing to do, the right thing to do, was to apologize for getting in the way of Jesus."

This quote is from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It would take me too long to explain where this quote arises in his writings but I wanted to share it. I highly recommend this book to any person. It is really convicting me about my beliefs and life. Another quote from the chapter "Belief" is the quote "what you believe is not what you say you believe, but what you believe is what you do." I've got to be honest, I can talk a lot about serving the poor, or standing up for justice, or living generously with my money, but do I really do it? When I tell people that they should talk to others about Jesus, do I do it? My heart has been touched with this truth along with others in his book as well as Lee Camp's book Mere Discipleship. This goes back to my "useful religion" post a few weeks ago. I work in a publishing house that is in downtown Nashville. This is a Christian publishing company so there are many people that consider themselves Christian. Right across the street is a Greyhound Bus Station. Also across the street are several strip joints. The area is surrounded by magnificent cathedral-ish churches as well. For a few weeks my heart has wanted to some how be evangelistic. By this I don't mean preaching the gospel or having a Bible study, but meeting a felt need. The only problem is my brain is trying to come up with excuses to keep me from reaching out whether it be money shortage between my wife and I, or not enough time during my break, or I'd miss my lunch time and I might get another migraine. But it seems as though God is really pushing me to get off my rear to serve and to live out the gospel. So by blogging this conviction, I am placing myself into your accountable hands. If I can just not be so selfish God might be able to bring His love through a weak individual like me.