Christianity ought to touch the whole of Life...

"I would say if Christianity is truth, it ought to touch on the whole life" - Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer is a bit of a hero of mine, I read his biography a while back and was captivated by his attitude to Christianity, apologetics and serving. To my great delight while in Oxford I met a man named Joe who knew and worked with Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland. I was quite excited to hear stories and hear his wisdom. It was truly remarkable!

But what Schaeffer is saying here is so true. He is sure that if Christianity is true then we cannot box it or put it into a category and leave it untouched. We are introduced with Schaeffer the reality of Christianity that penetrates his life - the kind that digs deep at our soul and gets under our skin. If Jesus is real, if we not only believe but follow and thus a disciple then it ought to touch our whole life. Not just part of it.

Can we perhaps see the ripples of Christ in our life already? You will find that you cannot hold light and darkness together, you cannot hold truth and lies together. You cannot hold Christ as Lord and you as Lord in the same hand. One must go. Either you live for yourself and walk on the path of death or you embrace Christ and lose yourself and find that you are given eternal life. If this is true - then should it not affect every spectrum, inch, moment, thought, action of your life and my life?

I have been thinking how this affects me everyday. Perhaps it should touch how I watch TV, movies or read books. How I talk to people or don't talk to people, how I love others, how I see the world, How I see death and life, church and friendship. How I see what is moral or what the world believes to be true. How I view white lies, how I view myself, how I judge others and how I show the love of Christ to others...

Christianity is not just for Sundays, but its for the Monday morning and the evening in the pub with workmates and the sitting in front of the TV and the walk to church and the listening to friends and the reading of the newspaper and sitting on the train and the love for people from different countries, religions and worldviews. Its for the days that have rain or humid heat, the time we spend eating or the time we spend daydreaming. Its when we read our bible or when we read science fiction, its when we listen to rock music or dance to the tango... "it ought to touch the whole of life".