Tuesday, June 9, 2020

The Practical and Convenient


G.K. Chesterton once said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

 

It’s so good to listen to heartwarming and affirming talk about faith, hope and love. But once confronted with the reality of walking our faith, practicality and convenience takes the lead. It’s so easy to throw away to the trash what we believe. “Yeah I know, but God is love, he will understand, this is the most practical and convenient way to do it now.” Whatever is practical and convenience, yes, that’s Christianity?

 

The Church and yes, communities therefore are important because it provides an environment where we can live together in the life of Christ. Community provides opportunity for our spiritual growth. So, if we in community fails to guide and correct one another, then there’s no point of Christian communal life. We might just as well turn into any organization whose objectives are just networking and feel good get together.

 

Once we start seriously considering the words of Jesus, slowly the demands of Christianity become clear and even scary at times. We love the message of love and compassion and yet when the demands of truth and firmness in faith arise, we shrink. We find it difficult to put in practice. We find ourselves cowards when challenged!

 

The beauty of Christianity is that, it does not look down human weakness instead it encourages, challenges and pushes humanity to try the ideal.


by aats