XXX

I bet that title got your attention didn’t it? Perhaps more than any other letter, the letter “X” grabs our attention. Be honest, the letter “L” just doesn’t have the same pop does it? It’s only amplified when it comes in triplicate (coming in a close second and third is “www”, which makes us think of the internet, and “zzz”, which makes us think of sleep). XXX usually signifies pornography or poison (is there really a difference?), but in this case it refers to neither.

I want to talk about “X” as in “X-treme.” The letter X is used to identify everything from sports (X-Games) to food flavor, as extreme. We are living in an extreme world. No longer are we content with our kids playing recreational sports, we’ve taken it to extremes: summer ball, fall ball, winter league, travel teams. We don’t just eat when it’s meal time or stop when we are full, we’ve taken food to extremes: Taco Bell “fourth meal”, super size fries, all you can eat buffets, twenty ounce and one liter soft drinks and eating contests, have turned us into an obese nation. We spend money at an alarming rate, going into debt, amassing multiple credit cards, not to acquire needs, but to satisfy wants. Even our government is under staggering debt. The digital age, which began in the eighties, has gone to an extreme in just a generation: the internet, games, texting and social media have exploded from novelties, conveniences and pastimes, to constantly holding our attention on our cell phones, even to the point of being distracting and dangerous (have you seen the video of the woman falling into the fountain while texting or the statistics on deaths due to texting and driving)? Even little things like beauty pageants have gone to extremes. Have you seen Toddlers and Tiaras?

When are we going to take our faith to an extreme? What if we practiced extreme giving instead of insulting giving? The typical cable bill is over sixty dollars while the typical contribution is about twenty. We don’t hesitate to go in debt for plasma tv’s or vacations, or borrow money to buy boats, cars and motorcycles, but wouldn’t dream of using a credit card or getting a loan to give to the church. Countless hours, spread over many seasons and years are devoted to improving skill on the ball field, yet church leaders have to beg, bribe and threaten to scrape together just a few workers to get basic works of the church done. Most folks are constantly “connected” and panic if they lose their phone or get disconnected from Facebook for a few minutes, yet can’t remember the last time they connected with God through prayer, even though He commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). What would the effect be if we fed on the Word of God like we do food? What if we fed our spirits three times a day, went back for seconds, in between meals, in the middle of the night and studied until we couldn’t go any longer?

We don’t have to wonder what would happen because we have a record of what did happen when Christians got extreme in living out their faith. They sold what they owned to be able to give and then gave until it hurt. They prayed always and gathered together to pray for hours. They searched the Scriptures daily and desired it like a baby does its mothers milk. They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. What was the result? They turned the world upside down, converted the lost by the thousands and took the Gospel to the whole world. Until we decide to do the same, I can’t help but believe that the Lord will remain extremely disappointed in us.