“You may try to put me off by saying you feel much, and think much about these things: far more than many suppose.  I answer, ‘This is not the point.  The poor lost souls in hell do as much as this.  The great question is not what you think and what you feel, but what you do.’”

–J.C. Ryle, ‘Holiness’

Have you ever observed an Olympic athlete in his day to day life?  Since he was young, from early morning until he rests in slumber, every hour of his life has been spent within sight of a single goal.  Day after day, he runs, stretches, reaches, exerts himself in pursuit of his prize.  He studies, he trains; he pummels his body, his heart, his mind into submission—he goes without family, without friendships, without leisure, without pastimes, without sleep, without even a resemblance of a normal life—for one conquering purpose.  He eats, drinks, sleeps, dreams, breathes, hungers and thirsts passion for it.

“This is what passion is,” we are compelled to think, to say, to marvel upon looking at his life.  And then we look at our own lives—compromised, pale, ordinary and without a single and consuming passion.

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul compared the Christian’s life to a runner in a race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).  Likewise, I think perhaps it is fitting for us to compare our lives to that of an Olympic athlete.  Yet what do we see?

And the first commandment is this: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30 nkjv).  We are called to have one great love, one great passion—our lives consumed.  Separate from evil, fully yielded unto Him, we are called to be holy as He is Holy—to learn and grow and purify ourselves for this one purpose in all that we do.  Imagine we lived like this.  Imagine we were not simply normal.  Imagine we had this one great passion, this one great love.  Imagine it!  How different would we be?

Sidney Howard said, “One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.”  If you want to follow Jesus, if you want to obey His commands, if you want to love Him, you must count the cost.  If you want eternal life, you must give up this world.  If you want this world, you must give up God.  Count the cost.  What do you want?

We were not made to live normal lives.  We were made to live for a conquering purpose—to study, to train, to pummel our bodies and hearts and minds into submission for a glorious and eternal Prize (1 Corinthians 9:27, 1 Timothy 4:8).  We are called to be unashamedly extreme, unrelenting, harsh, intentional in our battle to win that Prize that so few obtain.  We are called to bind fast to the altar all other goals, to sacrifice all other dreams, to die to all that would hinder.  We were never called to give ourselves to the trivial, to the earthy, to the unworthy—only, always the eternal.  

Oh, where is that unquenchable zeal, that yearning, that inescapable conviction to advance, to live, to embody this one purpose so that people may observe the professing Christian and say, “This is what passion is”?  How little must many of us esteem our eternal Prize and the praise of our Father in Heaven compared to the world’s love of mere earthly trinkets and the acclaim of men!  Oh, beloved friend, do you want ease and comfort or do you want the Prize?  You must choose.  You do choose.  Every day—every moment—you choose.

Do not be mistaken: This is not a call to live a happier Christian life, to appear a better Christian, or to be an extreme and radical Christian.  This is simply a call to the only kind of Christianity there is: This is a call to be a disciple of Jesus, a follower of the Way.  This is simply a call to true Christianity. 

If believing in Jesus is only praying a prayer, then how could the 70% of Americans who profess to be Christian not be Christians?  Yet Jesus says, “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it,” (Matthew 7:14 nkjv) and, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23 nkjv).  If being saved is only praying a prayer, why would it be difficult and few find it?  America is such a rich nation, yet it is easier here than anywhere else to pray a prayer and profess “Jesus is Lord!”  Why would Jesus say it is hard for us?

Only read the Bible and you will see that belief in God takes more than a 2 minute prayer—it takes one’s life.  In Luke 14:27 and 14:33 Jesus tells us that if we don’t choose and love Him so that our love for our loved ones and even ourselves seems like hate, don’t carry our cross and follow Him, if we don’t give up everything we have, we cannot be His disciple.  In Hebrews 5:9 we are told that Jesus “became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,” then in Hebrews 3:14-19 we’re told that those who rebelled, sinned, and disobeyed were unable to enter God’s rest because of their unbelief—so we can only conclude that obedience is directly linked with, necessary to belief. 

Genuine belief is always proceeded by and followed by true repentance—a turning away from evil and towards God.  We cannot earn our salvation—“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  But we also cannot be saved if there is no evidence—“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3 nkjv) “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26 nkjv).  As J.C. Ryle put it, “We may depend on it as a positive certainty that, where there is no holy living, there is no Holy Ghost.”  We cannot be alive in Christ if His Spirit has not come to dwell within us (Romans 8:9).

It sounds hard, difficult, like few have found it and few will find it—and very few among the rich, for like the rich young ruler we often fail to see our need for Christ and that He is true Treasure, so rarely surrender the things of this earth that we might have eternal life (Luke 18:18-23).  It sounds just like how Jesus described it.

What I am saying may frighten some of you.  But it frightens me when I hear people say that Christianity is easy and I see many walk away believing they are justified in their sin.  They’ve prayed the prayer.  But do they understand the truth of repentance or belief in Jesus, the truth of sin and of their need for a Savior?  The church tells them they are “carnal Christians,” but the Bible says that those who practice the things they practice will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21).  Or maybe they are called “lukewarm Christians.”  But the Bible says that God will spit the lukewarm out of His mouth!  I think that is cause for concern.

When we’re told we can have gain without pain, when we’re comforted in our sin, told the way that isn’t difficult leads to Heaven, when preachers lead us along the broad path, when the church says Christianity is easy, we miss the prize—and men perish.

Copyrighted material, used with permission.