Monday, February 25, 2008

On Being a "Western Christian"

Interesting that I ran across this article today. I've often thought that I have so much stuff and am so spoiled that I whine to God about my lack of house or whatever. People elsewhere are simply praising God for their food and lives. How do you balance it all?

2 comments:

Johanna said...

I've thought about that before - the materialism of our country getting in the way of our excitement about our faith. My brother knows a Chinese pastor who is preaching in an underground church in his home. The officials know about him and have hauled him in for questioning before. When that happens and he gets a prayer request out to others, he doesn't ask for his release, but rather that he will be a good witness while he is in custody and that his family will be strong without him. The state of the church in America does concern me. We had Dr. Ergun Caner preach in our church this past Sunday. You should search for him - he is amazing. He is a former Muslim and now is the president of the Seminary at Liberty University. He is so bold with his faith. I found myself praying that I would be more bold. God already gave me an opportunity tonight, and I was bold in my sharing. I hope that desire to be bold in my faith doesn't fade as time goes by...

What were your thoughts?

Joanna said...

i am often ashamed at our complacency. i sort of does seem like when you're being persecuted your faith is more alive. how strange. but you know, that makes me want to break that mold. i want to be on fire for God even when we have all the we could possibly need and our house is four times the size of other christians living in third world countries. mom said she thinks it's important for people to go to other countries and see how our brothers in Christ are living to get a real appreciation for what we have here and how our prayers should be formed. i sort of agree, but this isn't always possible. but it's good to at least read about how other christians are suffering and turn that into some sort of a spark for real, earnest, godly living here in the land of the free.