C. S. Lewis, a great thinker, theologian, and writer, wrote words which set forth the choices set before all of us concerning Jesus. "You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." Lewis leaves no wiggle room for those of us who live in this gray world filled with compromise.
When I was growing up, the church that I remembered was more focused on presenting Jesus as someone about whom a life and death decision must be made. There was an urgency heard in preaching. The invitation to accept Jesus as the Savior was heard often and with great clarity. I remember making many trips to the altar as I tried to get it figured out in my own mind and heart. And ironically, when I came to that moment of responding in faith and accepting Jesus as the Savior He is, it was not at an altar of a church, but kneeling beside a bed in my home.
Today's church would surely be better served if it spoke with greater clarity about Jesus. Too often what is said about Him sounds like someone trying to walk on theological eggshells. The church and its preachers seem so conscious of the voices of this diverse culture in which we live that the proclamation about Jesus gets watered down to make it palatable without being offensive or unpleasant. New is not always better. I think I will cast my vote for what might be called old fashioned.
When I was growing up, the church that I remembered was more focused on presenting Jesus as someone about whom a life and death decision must be made. There was an urgency heard in preaching. The invitation to accept Jesus as the Savior was heard often and with great clarity. I remember making many trips to the altar as I tried to get it figured out in my own mind and heart. And ironically, when I came to that moment of responding in faith and accepting Jesus as the Savior He is, it was not at an altar of a church, but kneeling beside a bed in my home.
Today's church would surely be better served if it spoke with greater clarity about Jesus. Too often what is said about Him sounds like someone trying to walk on theological eggshells. The church and its preachers seem so conscious of the voices of this diverse culture in which we live that the proclamation about Jesus gets watered down to make it palatable without being offensive or unpleasant. New is not always better. I think I will cast my vote for what might be called old fashioned.
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