Following Christ – Joseph M. Stowell Part 1

I’m currently reading this book called ‘Following Christ’ by Joseph M. Stowell. It was a book given to me during my 21st birthday last year, and it took me this long to actually open the book and read it, and let me tell you this: The 1st 6 pages of the book is all – OUCH.

Ouch because the things the author wrote in the book is all so relevant about what a Christian life really should be. The following paragraphs below are taken from his book:

“Gandhi was asked by a closed friend, ‘If you admire Christ so much, why don’t you become a Christian?’ He reportedly replied, ‘When I meet a Christian who is a follower of Christ, I may consider it.’

Mao Tse-tung came to America as a university student, intrigued by Christianity and Western culture. But after encountering several Christians and our brand of Christianity, he became disillusioned and turned his heart towards Marxism. We all know the rest of the story.

It seems to me that this is not what Christ had in mind when He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Something significant has happened since Christ issued that call nearly two thousand years ago. We have become quite happy to call ourselves Christians with little or no thought of following. As a result, we are paying dearly through a lost of fulfillment, personal satisfaction, and our impact on our world.

It is not that we have denied Christ or even that we have done horrible things. In fact, most of us have mastered the codes of conduct and rituals of our religion. The problem is, we have masqueraded Christ with our own ways. When non-Christians see us, they see more of our distorted portrayal of Christianity than they do a clear reflection of the character and quality of Christ.

-

Too often we have graffitied the face of Christ. His image becomes clouded by our prejudices and preferences. Apart from our activities on Sunday and our conformity to external codes of dos and don’ts, the world doesn’t notice much difference between us and people who don’t claim to be Christians. All they see in Christianity is the loss of a day of leisure on the weekend and the denial of common pleasure. Nor does it go unnoticed that many professing Christians manifest as much greed, self-centeredness, materialism, anger, aggressiveness, and sensualism as the average pagan on the street.

Our record on issues that relate to racial prejudice and cross-cultural sensitivity is especially poor. While we rightly lift a prophetic voice against moral ills such as abortion and homosexual behaviour, we are strangely silent on issues that touched the heart of Christ – the poor, oppression and injustice.”

PS: This 'series' will be updated weekly by me, Eugene Goh. However, all credit goes to the author, Joseph M. Stowell for writing this inspiring book. Nothing comes from me.

~to be continued~