Vampire Christianity

Do you practice Vampire Christianity? I hope not.

Whoa! Hold it right there for just a minute. Isn’t that sacrilegious or something? Maybe.

What’s worse is if it’s true. Sadly many people practice a form of Vampire Christianity. No not in the sense that they drink other people’s blood. (Give me a break!)

Vampire Christianity is a shortsighted focus on salvation, on being a Christian, to the neglect of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. So says Dallas Willard in his recent book, “The Great Omission.”

Willard’s point is this: “The individual says to Jesus, in effect, ‘I’d like a little of your blood, but I don’t care to be your student…in fact, won’t you just excuse me while I get on with my life, and I’ll see you in heaven.’”

In other words, “Thanks for dying on the cross for me, Jesus. I’ll accept your blood shed for my sin. I’ll even remember it through the Communion cup. Just don’t ask me to change my life, give up my sin or live for you.”

Such a Christian is more interested in the benefits of being a Christian than in becoming a Christ follower. And that’s selfishness at it’s worst.

To follow Jesus involves more than just a “confession.” It’s a whole new focus for life.

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

For the Christ follower, if faith in Christ is worth anything—it is worth everything.

Jesus did not call us to a life of ease. Following him requires self-denial, complete dedication and willing obedience. And he was up front about it.

Being a Christ follower is not about memorizing the most information from the Bible. It’s about undergoing a profound transformation in our hearts and minds where we become more and more like Jesus Christ.

The result will be what Jesus described when he said, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”

Sadly the church’s emphasis on conversion and Communion has failed to produce such a relationship of transformation. For the most part it has produced Vampire Christianity.

If your focus is on your own life, what you can get and what you can keep—in the end you lose. You leave it all behind. But if you give your life to Jesus, put him in charge and become his follower—you will gain everything that is eternally important.

Missionary martyr Jim Elliot put it well: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Instead of a self-centered life, Jesus leads us to a God-centered life. He calls us to deny ourselves the comforts of life in order to achieve a mission far greater than riches. That mission is the eternal salvation of the world. And what you gain is far greater than what you lose.

The only thing you can take to heaven with you is other people. Jesus sacrificed himself to give the human race an eternal hope and future. He calls us to do the same--to live in such a way that our life points others to the Savior who lived, died and arose from the dead to give everlasting life to all who trust in him.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!