Recently in a conversation between Zee and I, *a new friend
*she made some valuable points about us Christians, among many of those was one
that went along these lines: “girla, we Christians have become so relaxed and
have an assumption that all things will automatically go well and we become
complacent when they don’t.” I am watching Joyce Meyer as I write this post and
she is mentioning some qualities that come with the knowledge and understanding
of grace. She is focusing on how grace helps us to be little to not complacent.
I am now aware of what then becomes a blockage for unbelievers to admire or
yearn to be Christians. In one of my recent and much happier posts
*Eavesdropping*, I spoke about how Christians tend to have their lives so good
that others notice. The opposite is also as effectual. And this is all because
we have missed the grace mark. Throughout the book of Exodus are complaints
over complaints from the Israelites concerning the journey out of Egypt. These
fellas whined so much that it became somewhat irritating. For some odd reason
their eyes where shut to the grace of God. They were alive, they never starved
thanks to manna and they had a pillar of fire lead them at night, and a cloud
during the day. But noooooo, those where not enough to have an attitude of
gratitude. See I am seeing so many traits in us modern Christians that make us
so similar to them. It is no wonder unbelievers think and say what they say.
I have been asking
around about the general opinions people have on believers and God. Someone
responded to my text and in her response she said “well I just don’t like how
Christianity alters people’s mindsets and they become unable to be independent
in their decisions”. This blew my mind on so many levels because it makes no
sense to believe in something you have never seen or touched, or to give that
entity full control of your life, or to surrender even your thought life to it.
But it shouldn’t make sense. We all believe in different forces that we have no
logical explanation to defend. Anyway, back to my point of grace and gratitude.
I believe there will be a paradigm shift in how we view life, worship and
conduct ourselves, when we focus on the grace of God in our lives.
The aim is not to
show unbelievers that we are now aware that our lives don’t exactly suck, but
the point is peace within ourselves. We are wired differently. True maturity is
acknowledging that we are not ourselves (for I l no longer live but Christ
lives in me; for me to live is Christ and to die is gain)
and that in not being ourselves, we still have a clear and great
contribution in who we become (decisions, choices and options available to us
for everything) and also being aware of the grace deposited by our heavenly
Father which will make us have a gratitude mentality which will end up with us
having peace of mind in God, not laziness. I see a mathematical sum here:
{Maturity and peace= dependence on God + our part in deciding + grace
consciousness + attitude of gratitude.} Indeed our mindsets are altered by what
we believe and entertain but our mindsets, like any other muscle needs to be
trained in order to have the proper shape, the right size and have the right
amount of power to sustain us when we are faced with opposition and have heavy
situations to pick up and carry. We need to become radical Christians who don’t
believe in a free joy ride but are able to take what comes along without
complacency and whining.
Now that, is a new alteration we need to make on our
mindsets.
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