It is with a clear understanding of this trend that I pen these words down - my confessions.
Please don't judge me because I won't judge you.
Christians are probably the most impersonated group people on earth and I for one am absolutely fascinated at how fashionable being a Christian has become. It's like everywhere I go I'm destined to meet 'Christians' but then what fascinates me most is how distinctly different Christians are from other Christians. This amazes me to no end because I thought the whole point of a common noun being used to describe a group of people is that there are striking similarities - COMMON traits.
Now my aim for writing this piece isn't to condemn or judge anyone, neither do I claim any form of righteousness except that which I have in Jesus. At best, these are just the confessions of one who at a point in time found himself to be quite different in mindset and lifestyle from other Christians, and knew who failed to measure up - himself. The million dollar question is "Who is a supermarket Christian?". It indeed is a tough question to give an answer to so instead of trying to coin a concise definition for the term "Supermarket Christian", I'd give traits I noticed were present in my life at that time and hope that you can relate to them.First, I'd like to talk about the Supermarket Christian's relationship with the Word. The Supermarket Christian is very and I mean VERY selective in respect to 'buying into' what's written in the Word. Just like the average shopper would walk into a supermarket list-in-hand, not hoping to buy everything the supermarket has in stock but to specifically get what they want/need at that point in time. They quickly skip over parts/sections that don't appeal them. They can't be bothered by 'trivialities' such as trying to find out what else the supermarket has, they need only Product X or Product Y.
Like the regular shopper, the Supermarket Christian is eager to go to the Bible not really because he's super-excited about Bible as a whole - to him/her it's a matter of necessity. They quickly dive in, skim through all the surrounding products earnestly searching for a 'quick fix' to their immediate problem/need and once done, it's 'bye-bye supermarket' till they're in a similar situation, needing another 'quick fix'. This is their lifestyle - from one quick fix to another. They only remember the Supermarket when they have run out of their last supply or do not possess an item they believe they need. And guess who decides what they shop for? Themselves!They decide what they want, when they want it and in what quantity they want it - the Supermarket is to them, merely a means to an end. Can you relate?
- Diazno
