Those of us who are Christians in America have a tendency to be very casual about our faith. The reason is, I believe, because it doesn’t cost us much. Our claim to being a Christian for many is evidenced by our church attendance (sporadic though it may be), and that’s about it. And for way too many of us that has been about all that is required to back up our claims of faith. Or so it’s been until the last several years.

For example, ever since the death of Charlie Kirk, there has been a stirring. More and more public figures have become quite outspoken about their faith in God as was evidenced in Charlie’s funeral service. His life and death influenced a reigniting of the Christian faith in America. Charlie’s faith was so much more than a casual faith.

And personally, I believe, the TV show, The Chosen, has played a part in this resurgence as well. For Jesus is presented in a way that more people feel they can relate to. They see Jesus’s humanity highlighted alongside his divinity. In a way they have never seen before. That’s not something that can be taken in and absorbed with just a casual glance.

And on the other side of the world, we are seeing the numbers of believers increasing. In spite of increased persecution. To follow Christ for persecuted Christians can mean expulsion from your family? Or loss of their means of income, or loss of their home. Families and neighbors turn against them when it is discovered they are believers in Christ. Their own families become their enemy. And in some cases they and children must flee for their lives. Sometimes they have to leave their homes and go to a safe house in another country. A casual faith doesn’t have what it takes to endure under such circumstances.

In America it is no longer popular to be a Christian. While we are not suffering persecution at this point, we are experiencing increasing discrimination. Which leads us to reconsider the cost of following Christ. And I say that is a good thing. Why? For when it starts costing us something to be a follower of Christ, we will soon learn its true value. And we will discover casual Christianity to be severely insufficient in battling the spiritual forces at war with us today.