A Few Different Perspectives

Keeping with my introspective theme, let's bring out the old DeGarmo and Key classic which is continuously in my brain lately. Jamie Wallace, this is partly due to your recent flashback with "I'm Accepted", and partly due to my own love for classic CCM music!

CASUAL CHRISTIAN
It's more than a wish, more than a daydream
More than just a passing whim
Yes, I've said this all before
A thousand times or more
I don't wanna waste my life in chains of sin

CHORUS
I don't wanna be, I don't wanna be a casual Christian
I don't wanna live, I don't wanna live a lukewarm life
I wanna light up the night
With an everlasting light
I don't wanna live the casual Christian life

This life is filled with strong distractions
With pulls from the left or from the right
I've already made up my mind
Gonna leave this world behind
Gonna live my life a living sacrifice.

After reading through this and singing it again in my head, I started thinking of how NOT to be casual in my Christian walk. That would be to be dramatically real with people, bold in my witness, seeking the Truth and committing to act as if it's my priority, since it then would be. It's scary to even type this, because it means I realize it and if I choose not to do it, it's sinning again. Like, Paul's words in Romans 7, how we continually do the things we don't want to, and don't do what we know we should. This is a thought that I'm constantly mulling over, usually right after I correct my kids for committing some disobedient act I've warned them about repeatedly, and then God lovingly goes, "Ummm, hey - seem familiar? How about being an example and DO what you're telling them to?!" So, this leads me to another song. Good ol' Jennifer Knapp said it well.

ROMANS
Just when I think I've got it,
It's gone.
When I think I know the answer
And I dare to raise my hand it's wrong.

Stop, stop, stop this foolish pride of mine
That dares to drag me far away from you.
When I try to do it my way I always lose,
I always lose your point of view.

I don't have to be condemned.
Jesus saved me from the laws of sin.
If I fall I'll try again.
With the spirit as my guide
I'll never have to hide again.

I, I, I try to close my eyes like a child
Playing in a game of hide and seek.
If I can not see the Lord
Then surely Lord
You can not see me.
As if I could ever
Keep him from spying me.
All the plans of this man they're nothing more
Nothing more than evil schemes.

I don't have to be condemned.
Jesus saved me from the laws of sin.
If I fall I'll try again.
With the spirit as my guide
I'll never have to hide again.

Here's what Paul wrote. This is good stuff:
Romans 7:15-16 What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. 17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. 21-23 It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 24 I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? 25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. (the Message)