Life or Death

Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders.

Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me.

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander,

And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.

I've stood in a room with a thousand other students singing this song. I see a sea of arms raised around me, eyes closed, hands open wide in surrender.

To the casual onlooker, chapel at Asbury University would look like a little piece of heaven. A body of young people seeking after the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and strength.

But that onlooker wouldn't hear the conversations that occur afterward.

Obsessively worrying about a test the next period. Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders.

Freaking out about a relationship they're being convicted to leave. Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me.

Complaining about the inconvenience of going to chapel three times a week. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander.

Talking about how ridiculous the expectation is that they spend time in prayer and in the Word every day. And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.

How can they go from such spiritual highs to such spiritual lows in the course of mere minutes?

It's because they're looking for a feeling instead of a person.

The church today has so watered down Christianity that its become nothing more than a moment in time when you get a Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free card and move on with your life, with a Christian facade painted over your sin-saturated heart.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ calls us out of our past lives. Completely out. Not one foot out. Or one finger out. Completely out.

He calls us into holiness, so that He can indwell us and be Himself in us. A relationship with God is so much more than a two-second prayer before you eat dinner, than flipping your Bible open once a week at church, than praying when you want to do well on a test.

Christianity, true Christianity, is hard. It demands allegiance. Loyalty. Your very life. It demands that you take up your cross just as Christ did. It demands that you die to yourself. Not just once. But every day. Until there is nothing left of me and everything left of Him.

And for the first time, I am seeing the spiritual death around me. So many are hanging on by a thread, acting like they're fine, but wondering inside, Is this all? Is this all the Christian life is?

And, no, it's not. They need more. They know there's more. But the more is uncomfortable. It's hard. Oh, it's beautiful, it's rewarding, it's fulfilling too. But it's not easy.

And there comes a time when you have to decide, "Do I want to be comfortable or do I want to live?"

Life or death?

It's your choice.