In his song “Brownsville Girl,” Bob Dylan writes, “People don’t do what they believe in. They just do what’s most convenient,  then they repent.”

I think about this line from this song whenever I hear this reading or those similar to it. Christianity is not convenient. It is difficult at times and divisive at others. Repenting always comes with a caveat, the sincere pledge to not sin again. Doing what’s convenient and then counting on repentance later is not Christianity, it is something else.

It seems that we forget these demands of Christianly by Jesus, love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you. These are very inconvenient things to do and yet the way we treat our worst enemies and persecutors is the very litmus test of how Christian we are.

How many examples do we see of Christians and too many Christian leaders assailing those they perceive as their enemies, with words of hate, division and slander. We hear Christianity is under assault from “those people” or “that group.” I would agree that Christianity is under assault, but not from anyone or anything outside of us. It is under assault from within. When we conveniently forget about the demands of Jesus to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, we are no longer living as a Christian.

These inconvenient sayings of Jesus are not optional or temporarily suspended in certain situations. They are the very essence of being a follower of Christ.

Being a Christian is sometimes very inconvenient.

Did you know?

Did you know we paid $5,366 last year for electricity and $8,305 for propane…..stay warm!

Run2win4Him,

James Kirby