Our Christianity is Not Passive

Neither is it a badge of honour sitting pretty beside our names, another attachment like Dr., Ms., or Mr.

It is a call to action.

Because we all need cheerleaders, we might as well become one.

How often have the words “Hmmm, so sad” slipped out of our lips after someone has trusted us with their story?

Someone lays a real burden before us. We sigh, say, “It is well,” and perhaps send a verse before continuing with our day.

The Name Must Mean Something

Scripture tells us:

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Acts 11:26, KJV

The disciples were first called Χριστιανούς, Christianous, in Antioch.

The dictionary form is Χριστιανός, Christianos: a Christian, someone belonging to and identified with Christ.

Even the name Christ carries weight. It comes from the Greek Χριστός, Christos, meaning the Anointed One. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, Mashiach, and the Aramaic מְשִׁיחָא, Meshicha, from which we receive the word Messiah. To summarize, it means people belonging to the Anointed One.

What a name.

A Christian belongs to Christ. Over time, following Him should make His likeness visible in us. His name should become more than the title we claim. It should begin to explain the life we live.

Whatever the original tone behind the name in Antioch, it connected these disciples unmistakably to Jesus. When people encountered them, Christ was the name attached to what they saw.

That makes me wonder what people encounter when they meet us.

If we carry the name of Christ, then we must look again at the life of Christ. Was He passive? Did He move through the world untouched by the suffering around Him?

Christ showed no passivity toward brokenness. He was already on His way to Jairus’s house when the woman with the issue of blood came through the crowd. One need was waiting for Him, another reached for Him along the way, and He remained attentive to both.

When did we become an “Amen only” religion, loud within church walls yet carefully tucked away once we step outside them? When did Christianity become a bio flex, something we proudly place beside our names while keeping its call out of our lives?  Preaching only to people who already believe as we do, then leave feeling content that we have at least tried. Even in places where following Christ carries little threat of persecution, we keep our faith within familiar circles, careful not to attract the prying eyes of others.

Do not worry. I am pointing this finger at myself too.

When did Scripture become something that charges us up without changing what we do next? Why would God take His time to inspire His Word only for us to treat it like a storybook, sitting pretty until it is time for a contest to determine the best preacher?

The charge does not end with the final “Amen.”

Jesus said:

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:14–16, KJV

We were never lit to disappear into safe spaces. The light of Christ is mieant to travel beyond church walls and become visible in the lives we touch.

One of the clearest places that light should be seen is in how we respond to the burdens of others.

Are We Carrying One Another’s Burdens?

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2, KJV

The Lord placed this question on my heart: Are we carrying one another’s burdens?

Why does someone tell us what is happening in their life and our only response is, “All things work together for good,” before we walk away and leave them to carry it alone?
Romans 8:28 is true. It is gloriously true. It has held many of us together through terrible seasons. Yet quoting it does not release us from the instruction to mourn with those who mourn, and to bear one another’s burdens.

Sometimes the verse you share is part of the answer. Sometimes you are also meant to stand with them until the answer comes or strength rises within them to continue waiting.

Scripture gives us a striking picture in Acts 12. Herod killed James, the brother of John, and then imprisoned Peter.

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him
Acts 12:5, NIV

While the church prayed, God sent an angel to free Peter from his chains and lead him out of the prison.

Peter went straight to the house where the believers were still gathered in prayer and knocked at the gate. Rhoda recognized his voice and became so excited that she left him standing outside while she ran to tell everyone. The same people who had been praying for his release struggled to believe that the answer was already at their door, knocking.

Truth is, you can pray an answer all the way to the door. Still, prayer itself is not the answer. We do not place our confidence in the fact that we have completed the act of praying. Our confidence is in God, who hears us and answers according to His will.

Prayer is also not a substitute for obedience. Sometimes, while we are asking God to help someone, He will show us how we can help carry the burden. 

Is This the Fast I Have Chosen?

Isaiah 58 brings prayer and action together. God confronted a people who practised religious rituals while ignoring the suffering around them:

No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Isaiah 58:6–7, NLT

The fast God desired could not remain confined to a religious act. It had to become visible in the way His people responded to the suffering around them.

Why do we allow the enemy to play ball with people in the church while our prayers remain a laundry list of me, myself, and I?

Some may say, “Well, I pray for my family.” Good. You should. Yet Jesus said that even publicans love those who love them. The kingdom stretches our hearts beyond the circle that already belongs to us.

Have you developed a burden for your city, for those in need, or even for the person sitting beside you? Again, I say this to myself. How would it feel to stand before God and realize He gave you access to a soul which you took for granted?

Perhaps it is your roommate, your boss, the person you volunteer with, or the friend who keeps making jokes about something that is quietly breaking them.

God gave you proximity. What are you doing with it?

When the Holy Spirit places someone on your heart, do not continually dismiss the prompting. Pay attention to the access God has given you and ask Him how to use it well.

Christian, bear one another’s burdens.

Stop throwing verses from a safe distance when love is asking you to come closer. Activate what Christ has placed within you. Let people know that you have been with Jesus, and let them feel that they have been near Him because they encountered you.

Who Carries Me While I Carry Others?

Perhaps the question on your mind is, “If I am taking care of everyone else, who is carrying me?”

God.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33, KJV

This does not mean you should neglect yourself. Some people are always thinking of others and rarely stop to notice that they are running empty. There is space to rest and receive help. Jesus Himself withdrew to pray, and when His disciples had been surrounded by so many people that they had no time even to eat, He said:

Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.
Mark 6:31, KJV

A messenger whose body is continually breaking under the weight will eventually struggle to carry the message. Rest can be part of our obedience because we are human beings with limits. We can admit when we are tired and allow other believers to carry us for a while.

From Being Carried to Carrying

There is a season to be carried, and there is a season to carry.

There will be moments when your burden is too heavy to hold alone. In those seasons, the prayers and strength of other believers may help carry you. Yet we cannot remain forever in the position of being carried. There should be growth. The strength we received in one season should eventually become strength we can offer someone else.

There may have been a time when you survived on the prayers of others. As you grow, you learn to stand upon the Word for yourself. You also begin to pray with that same seriousness for the people God has placed within your reach.

Growth eventually asks something more of us.

At some point, you become the person who notices that another soldier is weary and steps into the gap. What you have learned from walking with Jesus begins to help someone else walk with Him.

Ask my mum. I can go to her with the same problem every day, and some days she will look at me as if to say, “Have I taught you nothing?”

Jesus asked His disciples a similar question.

The disciples had crossed to the other side of the water when they realized they had forgotten to bring bread. Around that time, Jesus warned them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Instead of understanding that He was speaking about their doctrine, the disciples assumed He was addressing the fact that they had brought no food.

Yet these were the same disciples who had watched Jesus feed five thousand people with five loaves and later feed four thousand with seven. They were worrying about the absence of bread while standing in the presence of the One who had multiplied it before their eyes.

Jesus reminded them of what they had already witnessed and asked:

Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Matthew 16:9–10, KJV

They had seen His provision, yet they had not learned to apply what they had witnessed to the challenge in front of them.

It carried the same weight as my mother’s question: Have I taught you nothing?

Another time, a storm filled their boat with water. The disciples woke Jesus in terror and asked whether He cared that they were about to die. Jesus arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still.” Once the sea was calm, He turned to them:

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Mark 4:40, KJV

In both moments, Jesus expected what they had already witnessed to shape how they responded to the next challenge.

How many years have you been a Christian? How long were the disciples with Jesus before He began expecting them to understand and act upon what He had shown them? This is not a call to manufacture power or act independently of God. Our authority is in Christ. He has taught us and equipped us with His Spirit.

This is where the image of a soldier becomes important. We have not been placed in this world without an assignment. Wherever God has stationed you, there are people within your reach. Your family, church, place of work and the city in which you live can become part of what you faithfully bring before God.

Soldiers do not abandon their posts. They do not sleep through the watch entrusted to them.

Habakkuk understood the posture of a watchman:

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Habakkuk 2:1, KJV

He took his position and remained attentive to God.

At some point, growth asks us to do the same. We take our place on the watch and become part of the covering we once depended upon. When we refuse to take that place, the responsibility does not disappear. It simply falls upon someone else.

The Work Was Given to All of Us

Too often, the responsibility we’ve been charged with has fallen upon a select few. We have handed them the work of ministry and placed the weight of the world upon their shoulders. Pastors and the faithful handful who always volunteer are expected to carry every spiritual and practical need while keeping the entire body moving.

They are mere mortals. They are not the Jesus of our age. Jesus is.

He has already carried what only He could carry, and He did not assign the work of the kingdom to a small group of exhausted people. The Great Commission was spoken to His disciples, and the responsibility to continue making disciples belongs to the whole church:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Matthew 28:19–20, KJV

Scripture says Christ gave pastors and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–12). The leaders equip the saints. The saints do the work of ministry. That means all of us have a place in the work.

Jesus alone is the Saviour, yet His authority sends ordinary believers into the places He has given them. The kingdom is meant to show forth through the whole body, not through a famous or faithful few.

We have concentrated too much responsibility in too few hands, and then we wonder why those hands are trembling. Some messengers are trying to move forward with diminished strength because the rest of the body has forgotten that it is also part of the body.

Meanwhile, many of us are consumed with self. Seeking the kingdom means caring about those who already belong to it and those we long to see enter it. We have all received the baton.

We Should All Be Cheerleaders 

I am of the belief that we should all be cheerleaders. You do not have to wear shiny clothes, although bonus points if you do. Five stars!

As a cheerleader, you are charged with comforting the weary and encouraging those who are finding the courage to put themselves out there. You offer your shoulder to the person who has been holding everything in. Like the good Samaritan, you refuse to pass by suffering when you have the capacity to help. Sometimes it looks like receiving the eighteenth call of the day and patiently repeating the same truth because someone’s mind is at war.

At other times, cheerleading sounds as ordinary as, “Do you want to grab coffee?” or “I can help you prepare.” It is love becoming specific enough for someone to accept it. As a cheerleader, you help someone toward the finish line, and somehow you reach it too. You may pull them along or simply keep pace so they do not have to cross that stretch alone.

We all need it.

When your season comes, perhaps you will feel love pouring in by the hour, every shift filled to capacity. Perhaps that will not be the case. Still, do for others what you would want done for you. Do it without keeping score and without building an invoice in your heart. Do it because a shift needs to be covered.

Maybe, just maybe, a cheerleader or an entire band of them will cover you when it is your turn.

Because we all need cheerleaders, we might as well become one. We need people to fill the shifts, so get your pom-poms and help make the world go round.

Soldiers, Shields Up

We are a community of believers. We are cheerleaders and soldiers, a battalion that does not abandon its own on the field.

No more allowing soldiers to enter the field alone while the rest of us offer a promise of prayer that disappears the moment lunch arrives.

Put on your armour and fight alongside them.

Shields up. Assemble. Go forth.

And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
Jeremiah 1:19, KJV

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14, KJV

No more “Hmmm,” followed by a sigh and an automatic “It is well” when the Holy Spirit is prompting us to help make it well.

Your Cheerleader Charge

Dare I give you a list?

Choose at least one and do it today. Right now, if you can. 

1. Pray for the city where God has placed you. Ask Him to show you one need within it that you can begin carrying consistently.

2. Pray for your pastors and mentors by name. Send one of them a short message afterward to let them know they are being covered too.

3. Call the friend who has been on your heart. If they cannot talk, send a voice note that asks a real question and leaves room for an honest answer.

4. Send an encouraging message to someone who is putting themselves out there. 

5. Pray with someone on the phone instead of only promising that you will remember them later.

6. Invite someone for coffee, dinner, or a walk. If you eat out, pay if you can. If schedules make meeting difficult, send them a meal or voucher from wherever you are.

7. Remove one practical burden. Help with a chore, set up furniture, run an errand, review the document, or offer one specific task that you know you can complete.

8. Put a recurring reminder in your phone to check on one person weekly. Care does not become less sincere because you used your calendar to remember it.

9. Make an introduction, share an opportunity, or recommend someone for a room they are trying to enter. Use your access to open a door for another person.

10. Write down the name of one person who does not know Christ. Begin praying for an opportunity to love them well and share the gospel clearly.

With time, you may become a cheerleader extraordinaire.

And to any soldier reading this who needs a hand to hold, please say something in the comments. You have my prayers, and I pray this community becomes a place where people are also willing to stand beside you.

Our Christianity is not passive.

Let people know, by the way we live and the burdens we help carry, that we are people belonging to the Anointed One.