The Theory of Christianity vs. The Practice

I know a lot of people who know at least something about the theory of Christianity. Most of them believe something vague about Jesus dying for our sins, that God and maybe Satan exist, and that the Bible contains at least some things God wants us to know.

Where the many and the few separate is in what they practice. "The many" see some things the Bible says and decide they like them and embrace them and when it is convenient try to live according to them. But right there on the page next to those things, in painstakingly translated English, is something they don't like, and somehow they just ignore it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just the same. Or rather, I have been for most of my live - I'm making an effort to not be anymore. And it's hard, no question.

It isn't hard in that God's commandments are burdensome (in fact they are not). I think what's hard is to change oneself. To get past our pride and admit (or even consider) that we have been wrong for years or decades.

But we have to - that's the price of following Christ. We can be hot or we can be cold, but we can't be lukewarm.