The Evan-Jelly Fish: Operating as a Christian in the 21st Century

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” - Proverbs 24:10

I have found it extremely interesting just how biblically illiterate we have become as Christians in the 21st century. We have become more obsessed with being entertained in our church pews than we are with the word of God being preached. We have come to a place where we rely on tic tok to teach us the bible instead of learning to study it ourselves. We have become increasingly ignorant of church history for the sake of boredom. We have remained silent on hot topic issues for the sake of friendship with the world, and we have turned preaching into a Veggie Tales type messages so that we don’t have to talk about the seriousness of sin and so there by offend people. These types of Christians are those whom I would not call Evangelicals, I would call them “Evan-Jelly Fish”.

It’s a sad reality, and for so many, I’m sure, after reading the first paragraph will be offended because at some point, they may find themselves in that list. I am not going to be a hypocrite; I’ll own my mistakes and say that there have been times in the past where I have found myself in this list and have had to come and repent of it. You see, in those moments when I find myself in that place where I, for the sake of not being divisive, simply kept my mouth shut. I encourage everyone to avoid such hypocrisy.

Proverbs tells us “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” WOW! How powerful are these words. We live in a society that now more than ever needs to hear the word of God be preached, spoken, discussed and studied. When we choose to attempt to remain “natural” we are hurting the Christian worldview. The Bible tells us that “Friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4). This means that adversity will come, its undeniable and unavoidable. The question isn’t will it come, but what will you, dear reader, do when that day does come. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, for the sheer fact that Jesus literally told us “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34). Jesus didn’t leave it up to speculation, he told us that there would be division for the sake of following Him. The cost of following him costs you friendship and it will cost you family.

The New Testament teaches that following Christ comes at a cost (Luke 18:18-30; Luke 9:57- 62). Many Christians today know these two stories, but when it comes time to practice what they preach, they shy away. We need to be a people once more that count that cost. To follow Christ will require us to surrender everything. It will require us to take up our cross daily, to die to ourselves daily, and to remind ourselves daily that we are children of God and should act in a manner that represents that fact.

Dear fellow Christian. It is time that you have a deep and serious conversation with yourself. Do you consider yourself already dead for the Gospel of Jesus Christ or not? Will you stand in the face of adversity and remain strong and grounded in your Biblical beliefs or not? Will you do as Jesus commanded and make disciples of every nation? Or will you decide to sit on the sidelines and confess that that you “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,” (Romans 1:25)? It is high time that everyone has this moment for themselves to choose whom they will serve. Themselves? Or Jesus Christ?

By Ronnie Johnson