Something Earth Shattering

"We do have to give up everything we have to follow Jesus. We do have to love him in a way that makes our closest realtionships in this world look like hate. And it is entirely possible that he will tell us to sell everything and give it to the poor.
But we don't want to believe it. We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives. So we rationalize these passages away. "Jesus wouldn't really tell us not to bury our father or say good-bye to our family. Jesus didn't literally mean to sell all we have and give it to the poor. What Jesus meant was..............."
And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him in to a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.
A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest realtionships so that he recieves all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger all together. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream.
But do you realize what we are doing at this point? We are molding Jesus into our image. He is begining to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in our church building and lift up our hands i worship, we may not be worshiping the Jesus Christ of the Bible. INSTEAD WE MAY BE WORSHIPING OURSELVES."
-"Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream" by David Platt