Recently we did a major home remodel and in the midst of the dust, discovered that our house's foundation had cracks in two places. Damaging water was slowly leaking in. We did not enjoy paying the price to have the foundations fixed. But I'm so glad we did!
How wish it were that easy to repair the cracks in the foundation of our Christian culture. We see those "cracks" when we read study after study showing followers of Jesus divorce nearly as much as followers of the world. We see them when we read that Christians visit pornography sites with disturbing frequency. We see the cracks when we read scientific evidence that followers of Jesus are increasingly comfortable claiming to believe one way…but behave another.
My concern is two-fold. One, we seem to lack a consensus that the cracks are truly severe. And two, the few solutions out there appear to be rather surfacy: read this book…attend that webinar… download this resource.
I'm reminded of the street they recently resurfaced in our neighborhood. A concrete barber of sorts shaved off the top three inches of concrete pavement. I was intrigued that most of the cracks I had seen at the surface were still quite visible three inches down. Supposedly, a fresh coating of asphalt will smooth over those cracks.
But there is no easy way to pave over the cracks Christians have allow to develop on the narrow road Jesus spoke of.
And if Christ followers are going to stand out from our culture–in a good sense–we will need to dig much deeper than surface level cracks. We'll have to go down to the very foundations for vital repairs.
It's not pretty. It's not fun. But it must be done.
For followers of Jesus, the time for band aid solutions is long past. The course before us may be expensive. But pay the price we must. The cracks must be fixed.
Lest "the narrow road" opened up by Jesus, become perilous for the very folks we invite to travel alongside us.