on being relevant by Chad Bozarth

There's a lot of talk about being relevant these days.  I think there's even a Christian magazine called Relevant. You hear people say things like, "I love that teacher or preacher because they're just so real." Or maybe, "I just love that church, the Word there is so relevant." Everybody wants to be perceived to be "real" and "relevant."

What does it say about the church that this trend is so prevalent?  What is it about Christians and our history that we are so desperate to be perceived as relevant?  Were we fake before? Maybe it was the big-haired preachers of the 80's.  Maybe it's those awkward people who have no clue how to tactfully share their faith with someone.  Maybe it was rules without relationship. Maybe we majored on the law and minored on the love. It was probably a lot of these things. But you know what? We better wake up.  You can have all the props on stage on Sunday morning you can find, but none of it matters if we're not about the Gospel. As my mom would say, "the Gospel doesn't need to be tweaked."

The world hates God.  No amount of cotton candy and cool videos will change it.  Don't worry about being cool. Stop trying to be relevant. If God is real and Christianity is the way, then we are relevant. The truth is always relevant.  True love is always relevant. Loving your neighbor is always relevant.  The Cross is always relevant.

Stop worrying about being relevant. If you are in Christ...you are.
 
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
- Galatians 5:22-23

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