There’s a praise song that we often sing in youth group at my church. It is called “Casual Christian.” Perhaps you know it too. Anyway, the song says: “I don’t want to be, I don’t want to be a casual Christian. I don’t want to live, I don’t want to live a luke-warm life.” Probably all of us, if questioned, would claim that we don’t want to be casual Christians. We’d all say how we want to be on fire for God. That’s great, really! But past the surface, I want to challenge each and every one of you to think about the whole “casual Christian” idea for a few minutes. Sadly, I think there’s a lot of people out there who would fall into that category, even if it’s not their goal.
“What’s a casual Christian anyways?” you might be asking. A casual Christian is a person who is “Christian” enough to please his youth pastor and his parents, but “worldly” enough to please his friends at school. This person walks the fence, participating in both types of life-styles in moderate amounts. But he doesn’t really belong to either way of life. He’s one person on Sunday, and another person on Monday.
A casual Christian is also the person who is satisfied with being saved, but doesn’t dig into the Word and doesn’t pursue a personal relationship with his Savior. This person is casual about God, and doesn’t see the need to give Him control over all the areas of his life. There’s no intensity…no fire; everything is relaxed.
Luke-warm is the term that the Bible uses to describe these types of people, and Jesus warns against it! Jesus said that He’d rather you be hot or cold, but if you’re luke-warm He will spit you out of His mouth. That’s pretty serious! I’m reminded of the children’s church song, “Whose side are you leaning on?” If you’re for God, then be for Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you’re not, then don’t pretend that you are. You can’t stand in the middle for long; sooner or later you’re going to have to make a choice and cross the line in either direction. Casual Christians fool themselves into thinking that living for God is not a serious matter, but it is. Jesus made it clear that He is not impressed with half-hearted, luke-warm believers. He said that we have to make a choice…for or against. I know that I don’t want to be a causal Christian. I want to live a life that is pleasing to my heavenly Father. What about you??
-HK
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