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Everything has to be extreme in the world now. We have extreme sports, extreme cars, extreme vacations, and even extreme tots at Sonic. What we seem to be missing though in society is extreme Christianity.

Extreme Christianity is not a sport, nor is it defined and covered by pop culture, mass media, and trendy magazines like many extreme things are. Even with all these difference though, Extreme Christianity does have a few things in common with the other extreme parts of society.

Extreme Christianity is a lifestyle, just like extreme sports, extreme cars, extreme travel, and extreme everything else is. Extreme Christians live their faith. It is their core, it is their driven force, it is their passion.

To be a Extreme Christian, just like to be extreme in anything else, requires a change in habits, relationships and priorities. The life of a extreme Christian is not understood by those on the outside. The choices of a extreme Christian do not make worldly sense. The priorities of the extreme Christians do not add up to onlookers. The relationships of extreme Christians are not defined by the same goals, topics, and habits of those that are in the world. This is the pattern of a extreme lifestyle. It is not one of rebellion, it is one of complete saturation in the activity.

Another similarity is in the areas of language and risks. With extreme lifestyles and extreme activities, comes new words, new phrases, new terms, new definitions, and new risks. Extreme Christianity has it’s own language and physical risks. People outside of the world of Extreme Christianity do not under the terms, language and structure of conversations between two Extreme Christians. They look at them like they are talking a foreign language, only catching the general direction and force of the conversation.

Along with this language barrier, there also comes a barrier in risk taking. Just like their worldly counterparts, Extreme Christian’s take risks (professional, physical, social, financial, etc) to pursue what they do. The risks do not seem to justify the reward for those outside of the extreme Christian community. There seems to be a disconnect between rational thought and the actions of a Extreme Christian.

So, maybe you are asking yourself are you a extreme Christian or not. Maybe you are saying - Hey I am saved, but I am not crazy. Maybe you are questioning yourself because you live in a nice house, your neighbors like you, your children have friends, you have never been tortured for God, and your employer allows you to work despite your faith. Well in the end the test of extreme Christianity is really simple. The test is are you doing what the world is not willing to do, are you living in a way the world does not, and are you living a life that is transformed and renewed by the power and presence of Christ. Not all extreme Christians are in prison, not all live in fear, not all are full time ministers, not all extreme Christians are in physical danger, not all Extreme Christians are pennyless. Extreme Christians are the ones that allowing God to work in their lives and follow Him where He leads, be it to the corner of the block or the corner of the world. In the end, Extreme Chrsitians do not have to be told they are extreme, they know it because they are living it and the world knows them by their actions, their words, their activities, and their ways, not by their self declarations of their lifestyle. Extreme Christianity pours out, it is not given out.

Christians need to worry more about how they are impacting society and less about how society is viewing them. Society will never understand the life of a extreme Christian, though most of society is more then willing to allow us to live that lifestyle as it benefits them, the community, and the world when the bad times come.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2005 at 10:37 am and is filed under Faith, Family, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.