In a nutshell, the experience of the Christian life is just that: experiential. I’ll be in this country, all attempts are made to experience God on an intellectual level.
True enough, God must be understood on some intellectual level, but mostly the experience is enhanced by doing: this is an action, an activity. Yet aside from the fact that Christian bookstores teem with books that espouse Christian discipleship, and literally hundreds if not thousands of churches lace the streets of any large city in America, the abundance of love does not give way to its fruition. With all the churches on any given street, one would think that the cloud of God would follow the Christians in any community. However, anyone knows this is not the situation.
The truth is there is no substitution for one-to-one interactions with our fellow man. A great evidence of God on this earth was the fact that Jesus appeared as a person among normal ordinary people. Most of the people Jesus encountered were people who suffered. At times much of the suffering was due to dismal thoughts or expectations and hopes. At other times, people were lacking: lacking in faith, in patience, and at times, hope.
Much of the hope that Christ gave his followers was a result not so much of his words, but by examples of his deeds. He paid for all this by the cost of his life. This free gift was an example in terms of how we are to live our lives as Christians. The question then becomes who is willing to pay the price?
Consequently, the evidence of a Christian is an ability to forgive, to give, show mercy, as well as to deny oneself.
As generous as Americans are as a whole, more often than not, we lack the ability to deny ourselves. Yet in any given time, we love the idea that we are good people. The more important concept here, is not that we are good people, but that we assist other people as their servants. Also generally speaking, the more we have and most Americans have a lot, the harder it is to serve.
Serving means more than giving money, as any good parent knows. For a parent needs to be there with the child providing time, subsistence, love, a physical presence, and proper guidance.
This is exactly what we ask God to give us. If God lives in a vacuum with no substance, we have no idea he’s alive all. It is only one God interacts with people, that we are able to sustain ourselves, and our identity as Christians. The interaction is a simple process. The Holy Spirit within the Christian is to interact with God’s children. This is the entire nature of the church. This is a process for all God’s people come together. At this point ,intellectual the process is over, and a vibrant dynamics of man-to-man responses take over. It does not require a genius to figure this out.
Hard Times Ministries 