the label on the package says...

"God cares more about your character than your comfort. Why? How do we know this? Because otherwise, Christianity; real Christianity as it is meant to be lived out in the footsteps of Jesus Christ; would be easy. Because otherwise, I would be no different than the folks who have been sucked into sitting in a pew on Sunday mornings, doing some good here and there, and believing that it is somehow good enough or meets the criteria to be defined as Christianity."

These were my thoughts today. I recently read and listened to some new blogs, and all day I was thinking on this idea, the sermon on the mount (of which I should really read over today), and Christianity being called "extreme" sometimes.
People seem to think these days that Christianity is easy or that it should be easy; that it somehow does not or will not require much effort beyond your own comfort zone; that it is somehow easy to be "like Christ."
Often times, as soon as a person starts truly living "like Christ," and living by the words Christ taught, they are labeled as "religious fanatics," "extremists," "raving lunatics," or uneducated daydreamers who are only looking for something to make them feel better about themselves or their life.
Most people of society seem to have the opinion that Jesus was a "good man" or a "good teacher" with a lot of "good things to say." But when His followers are living out His words, they're seen as ridiculous and extreme. Jesus taught the extreme and He taught what was difficult. The subjects everyone wants to ignore, the things we prefer to keep in the dark - those are what He taught on. And He didn't just teach us to change our actions. No. He went the hard, narrow, uncomfortable route, and He taught that we should have a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of character, that it might be known Who dwells in us.
While listening to David Murray, I understood how he was saying that the Sermon on the Mount is difficult. It is personal and deep and penetrating, because it deals with the heart of our character, not just the outside actions. Yes, everyone can live by it, but not everyone will choose to, or will choose to follow it to the deepest points.
Jesus taught radical. We should live as radicals. And being called one should be a compliment, because it means you are doing it right. Jesus was rarely in a place of comfort, even when He was born. The apostle Paul was imprisoned and shipwrecked. How comfortable could he have been? We must not allow ourselves to die inside a comfortable life. Granted, some of us are more blessed than others, but that does not mean we cannot do something that is uncomfortable for us. It may be something as simple, and yet as difficult, as talking to your next-door neighbor.