I’m borrowing the headline for today’s entry from comedian Brad Stine who blames much of American Christianity’s lack of attraction for men on the “Wussification of America.” His Sunday rant on FOX News reminded me of a passage in Romans that my wife and I read in our morning devotions.In our modern, democratic, “sensitive” age we have crafted a church that for many people emphasizes love, acceptance, grace, mercy, and the more “friendly” aspects of the Bible and Jesus’ character. We talk a great deal about receiving Jesus as our Savior but don’t usually emphasize what he saved us from or another all-important aspect of Christ’s identity.
Sovereignty.
In “modern” Christianity we want to be sensitive to perceptions of those outside the church. We take our cue from the Apostle Paul who instructed us to be “all things” to all men (I Corinthians 9:22) and to maintain a good reputation with those outside the church (I Timothy 3:7), and not to give offense, unnecessarily. Yet there is another side to Christianity that in our day of modern sensibilities we often overlook. It is the side that emphasizes the supremacy of Jesus Christ above all else. It is the side that emphatically and unquestionably stands for truth, righteousness, and authority. It is the side that sometimes in the midst of over-sensibilities must stand up and say without reservation that there is only one God, and one truth, and one authority that is over and above all others.
When beginning his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul began with a greeting that if written today by a missionary or pastor might seem foolish and even dangerous considering whom he was writing too.
