If 85% of this country were really Christians…

What would it look like?

Ever think about this? Gallup polls have been done for years that put the percentage of Christians in the USA anywhere from the low 80’s to the low 90’s! Did you catch that? Really catch that?

90% of this country Christian?!

I would love nothing more than to see this nation saturated with the love of Christ, infiltrated with the forgiveness and love of Jesus, restored by the transforming power of the Son of God, but…

What does that look like?

The people who lived when Jesus walked this earth had some ideas. They thought the kingdom of Heaven would be to have Jesus lead a Jewish army right up to the doorsteps of Rome and then man handle them into oblivion. When Jesus said He came to bring peace and forgiveness and restoration, his popularity in the polls plummeted.

In the middle ages, the “church” sought to assert itself again by steam-rollering over anyone and everyone by force. They labeled it “Christian” and they thought so highly of their cause that they lifted the status from a cause to a crusade.

But God wasn’t in it and we’re still reeling from the brilliance of that move.

Today many “Christians” say the evidence of the kingdom of God is shown through health, wealth and prosperity, and this message is very appealing. It’s why one verse can sell millions upon millions of books—it’s the prayer of health, wealth and prosperity. It’s the prayer of MEbez. It’s why people can fill stadiums with the mere hint that miracles are taking place even when no miracles take place whatsoever when these charlatans are leading the way—but even so, just the mention of possibilities is similar to the lure of the lottery ticket though the odds of winning are right up there with getting struck by lightning while being attacked by a great white shark during a leisurely swim off the coast of Antarctica!

I don’t have my HP calculator handy, so I’m going to have to wing this one. Let’s see, I’ll place the odds conservatively at about zero.

And, again, dreading the missing math machine I can only guesstimate the percentage of people who are actually sucked in by this hokey stuff…I’d say that somewhere between 80 – 90 percent of people find this message almost impossible to resist. Coincidentally, it lines up rather nicely with Gallup’s results.

Preach it and your popularity will soar.

However…

Yep, you guessed it. Won’t get you any closer to the God who loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. Follow this rather stained and misleading yellow brick road and it might even lead you in the complete opposite direction.

Here’s what Andy Stanley said about this very subject last week at Catalyst, “What would you do if you realized one day that you were the most powerful person in the room?” One day Jesus Himself was faced with this very question and John 13: 3 says, 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;

Here’s what He then did,

4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (vs4–5)

Want to know what we’d see from 85% of the nation if they moved from claiming Christianity to actually becoming Christ Followers?

Go back and read the last 2 verses.

Now ya know.

Just a thought.