To be honest I don't know whether the late Mr Sinatra was a Christian or not. But I have often heard his song "I did it my way" being sung at funerals as a final salute to the deceased. Personally, I have requested my family play "I feel good" by James Brown! Whether they will or not remains to be seen...and I am in no hurry to find out.
But to live life "their way" is the aim of many an unbeliever. And I guess if you are going to reject Christ and wear the consequences then you may as well. And you may as well do a good job of it because you only get that one chance!
What I do have difficulty understanding though, is why a Christian wants to do church their own way. Maybe someone can help me out here because I just don't get it. But before you answer too quickly I want to say I do understand people get hurt in churches...I have been hurt and no doubt will be hurt further. But to say we follow Christ means we follow him. We start by going down the path of Calvary. We encounter the cross which slew Jesus. A W Tozer spoke of the cross in these terms:
"The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more."
The cross is such a powerful symbol to the Christian because no one who went to the cross was singing "I am doing it my way". Even Jesus, who chose to do His Father's will not His own. And as those who are raised with Christ are we not supposed to be doing it His way?
What part of "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" gives us the right?
Steve G
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