In His Name Devotionals
CHRISTIANITY LITE
In His Name Devotionals
CHRISTIANITY LITE
Worshiping at the altar of numbers and money produces a consumer oriented Christianity: Christianity lite—tastes great going down, settles lite and salves feelings. But such a gospel is worse then worthless, because those hearing its message think it’s the saving gospel of Jesus Christ—rescuing them from eternal judgment—when, in fact, it’s tragically misleading.
Preaching the true gospel means lifting up the unadorned, unadulterated, hard truth of the Word of God, i.e., convicting sin, practicing self-denial, and revealing the hard demands of following Christ—not health, wealth, prosperity, and happiness.
The message of Christianity lite is psychologically man-centered. In other words, Jesus provides peace and joy, makes one a better salesman, produces more home runs, makes us feel better about ourselves, and evaluates self-image.
Man-centered theology (an oxymoron), is designed around self-dignity, self-respect, self-worth, self-esteem— defining success as feeling good about self. Christianity in the hands of this kind of seeker-sensitive church leader is a “get what you want” rather than a “give up everything” movement.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lost it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). It’s not about exalting me, it’s about slaying me. It’s the death of self. It’s winning by losing; living by dying. This is the gospel of Christ—the essence of discipleship. The gospel of Jesus Christ requires self-denial—not self-fulfillment. Jesus is not a genie—rub the lamp and He jumps out, delivering whatever we want.
The message of Christianity lite is self-fulfillment. The message of the genuine gospel is self-denial. What we want makes no difference whatsoever. It is what it is—by God’s sovereign will.
