Part I: The Cause
There are moments, and there are movements. Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement, “I have a dream....”1 created a moment. Nathan Hale's, “I regret I have but one life to give for my country...”2 was a moment. But these memorable speeches created more than a historic moments, they inspired movements that would change nations.
What allows moments to become movements?
First, there must be a worthy and compelling cause. In these cases, the rights of a suppressed minority and the rights of an emerging nation captivated the hearts of hundreds of thousands of young people. Second, the cause must be compelling enough to be worth dying for. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Nathan Hale paid the ultimate price for the beliefs they held. To them, the realization of their beliefs and freedom of their fellow man was worth giving their lives for.
Many in Christianity today will claimed to have experienced a moment, sometimes many moments. In fact in the West, we have become very effective in creating “moments” with compelling conferences, inspiring speakers, and cutting-edge technology. However, society is not fooled by Christianity's moments. They see through much of the hype. Today as always, humanity is looking for something authentic, something genuine, something worth dying for. Thus, the weakness in churches and our lives is not due to our inability to create compelling moments in services but in our inability to live compelling lives.
To live a compelling life, we must find a belief worth living for and a cause worth dying for.
When I discovered Jesus, I found more than just a belief; I found a person. Jesus created his own moment.... on the cross. But the cross is more than the most well known moment in all of history. It has triggered the greatest movement the world has ever known.
It was on the cross that Jesus revealed the how much humanity was worth – the life of God's Son. The cross revealed that freedom is possible only through sacrifice and that the only hope for humanity is found in the proclamation of Jesus' work. It is cause that creation is waiting to see realized.3 It is a cause worth dying for because Jesus found it worth dying for. It's a cause that captivated me. Has it captivated you?
Part II: The Catalyst
There are moments, and there are movements. Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement, “I have a dream....”1 created a moment. Nathan Hale's, “I regret I have but one life to give for my country...”2 was a moment. But these memorable speeches created more than a historic moments, they inspired movements that would change nations.
What allows moments to become movements?
First, there must be a worthy and compelling cause. In these cases, the rights of a suppressed minority and the rights of an emerging nation captivated the hearts of hundreds of thousands of young people. Second, the cause must be compelling enough to be worth dying for. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Nathan Hale paid the ultimate price for the beliefs they held. To them, the realization of their beliefs and freedom of their fellow man was worth giving their lives for.
Many in Christianity today will claimed to have experienced a moment, sometimes many moments. In fact in the West, we have become very effective in creating “moments” with compelling conferences, inspiring speakers, and cutting-edge technology. However, society is not fooled by Christianity's moments. They see through much of the hype. Today as always, humanity is looking for something authentic, something genuine, something worth dying for. Thus, the weakness in churches and our lives is not due to our inability to create compelling moments in services but in our inability to live compelling lives.
To live a compelling life, we must find a belief worth living for and a cause worth dying for.
When I discovered Jesus, I found more than just a belief; I found a person. Jesus created his own moment.... on the cross. But the cross is more than the most well known moment in all of history. It has triggered the greatest movement the world has ever known.
It was on the cross that Jesus revealed the how much humanity was worth – the life of God's Son. The cross revealed that freedom is possible only through sacrifice and that the only hope for humanity is found in the proclamation of Jesus' work. It is cause that creation is waiting to see realized.3 It is a cause worth dying for because Jesus found it worth dying for. It's a cause that captivated me. Has it captivated you?
Part II: The Catalyst
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