Choosing our culture

There are two events/circumstances in history that I find particularly interesting. First, during the 4^th century, when Constantine came to power and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the response of many Christians, was to flee into the desert. An odd response?  Not really.  They did so because the Christian faith, now no longer illegal and frowned upon, became, the opposite.  It was not merely acceptable, but presumed.  It became easy.

The second is the time immediately after the fall of Constantinople.  The fall of Constantinople came by the hand of militant Islam.  The Christians in Constantinople responded with, “We would rather live under the domination of the Muslims than the heresy of papal Rome.”

The Christian faith is anything but easy.  This time we have on earth is not for our comfort, for our entertainment, or for our distraction.  We have been given this life so we have time to repent.  The world around us wants us to buy their story, their interpretation of things.  But the world is lying to us.  It is not proper for Christians to build their lives around comfort and play.  Our life is a battle.  We are fighting against the world, the flesh and the devil.  So much of our time and money is spent on gratifying our whims and passions. 

These two events make we wonder.  Is it right to live in easy, comfortable America, when doing so only seems to water down our faith and blind us to the battle that we ought to be engaged in?  It is interesting to me that the Christians that live in poor or dangerous cultures are the Christians whose faith is the strongest.