Barbarian Couture

In my men's study on Tuesday nights, we have been reading a book on what it means to have real powerful faith. The book is called The Barbarian Way. This is the premise of this book: We as Christians have gotten soft. We like our comforts and believe it is our right to have them. When we meet someone who calls us out of comfort, we run them off.

I have been thinking about this in my own life. For a long time, I have been happy to stay in my own comfortable world. I like the ways things are going and I don't want to change. I don't want to be challenged to give up what is most important to me.

The author suggests that "Christianity" has become nothing more than another stale world religion. This statement blew me out of my shoes. It is a quid pro quo. I hear myself saying, "Hey, Jesus! You scratch my back and I will scratch yours." As a group, we Christians have looked at wealth and prosperity as a G0d given thing. Even our view of heaven points to this. We see heaven as a prize. What? I have heard and was baptized for this same reason. "I want to go to Heaven not Hell!" (I am sure many people move past this thought, but how many people don't grow up?) I want to see Heaven as the ends to the means. I won't to be in Heaven because that is where God is. Our faith is not about what we can get out of it.

Ask John the Baptist or the rich young ruler. They were called out of their comforts. You might say that John the Baptist never had known comfort, but he did give his head in the service of God. I define being a barbarian as willing to give all you have for a cause. In the society in which I live, this thought is reckless. When I look to John the Baptist or Jesus, they did not appeal to the social norms. They were about change. They were about sacrifice. They were willing to give their last penny to the cause.

I know that some will be uncomfortable with these thoughts. That is okay. I wonder though, "Am I a barbarian or a ballerina?"