When I first became a Christian, I was all about not becoming one of *those* Christians. You know, the ones who are weird, different, almost sheltered in the way that they stay away from pop culture and all things normal.

So, I carried on with one foot in Christ and one foot in the ways of the world because I thought it made me relevant.

Well, it doesn’t make me relevant. It makes me a hypocrite. I am now beginning to realize that there are actually two ways that I can be a Christian hypocrite.

There is the way that was obvious to me all along, that I could work so hard at acting holy that I forget that I am still a sinner in need of daily forgiveness, and as a result, look down upon anyone who I think doesn’t measure up.

There is also the way that I was not so aware of, and have actually been guilty of, that I could take God’s grace so for granted that I forget that, though I am a sinner, I still need to follow Christ. I have come to realize that it is really not enough to be sorry for falling short and ask for forgiveness, I also need to walk the walk, which means often rejecting the ways of the world.

I really can’t continue on with one foot in each world and not be a hypocrite. Keeping one foot in the ways of the world requires me to do, see, and think things that are not compatible with what I am told in scripture, what I know is right living, what I profess to follow.

I was listening to the song “Tonight,” by Jeremy Camp, one day (video below) and I heard the lines:

Tonight, I will take my cross
Tonight, I will count this cost

I realized that I have never really counted the cost of being a disciple.

Sure, I have given up things, I have made sacrifices, but they were mostly material things that I didn’t really care that much about.

When it comes to the big things, the things I care about, like my image, my reputation, my delicate ego, I hadn’t counted the cost. I didn’t think I needed to. I thought I could carry on with one foot in the world.

But, I do. If I want to live the way I have been called to, to do the things I have been called to do, I need to count the cost because it will cost me.

“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.” Luke 14:27-30

Technorati tags: Jeremy Camp, Christianity