Christianity is…for life - 11 March 2009

Yes, apologies to dog lovers everywhere for stealing the end of that legendary car sticker. Christmas and Easter are times when church attendances increase because people feel the need to go to church to celebrate either the birth or death of Jesus, or just because it is ‘nice’ and traditional.

And yet, they don’t feel strongly enough about their faith to attend for the rest of the year because they don’t need it. It’s what some would call lukewarm Christianity – not on fire for Jesus but not totally cold to the idea. If pushed they may own up to a faith of sorts – we often see this surface in times of need.

We all have stages in our Christian life where we go through this process, and yet in the darkest places, we find comfort in our faith. I always think of the following verse in those dark times.

‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me’. Psalm 23:4

But consider this, in our happiest times, do we turn to our faith then or conveniently forget it? I am more than guilty on this one and I guess many others are too. Ours is a faith worth celebrating and I am thinking that heaven will be one long celebration.

Be happy. The fact that Christianity is for life, and by that I mean eternal life means that we know we are with God forever – and more importantly, He is there for us……forever.