What does it take to be Christian in the 21st Century?

I take this line from http://spirituallylonely.blogspot.com/

as i was reading this blog by musing...

Certainly, it takes a lot to be a christian.. It takes really a lot out of any person. I walked at Orchard Road today, went to collect a set of scores from Weihan and then bought some stuff.. I felt like shopping, but then again, didn't feel like it. So I promptly went back.

And Orchard Road felt - crowded but empty. Call it but a super negative mindset going about in motion. But I couldn't help feeling depressed at the way society is moving - secularism, materialism, looks, success and riches are all that matters in life.

I felt challenged. certainly. My faith wavered. I'm thinking... have I been missing out on life? seeing everyone dressed up to the nines along orchard, and feeling dowdy in my clothings.. and wondering to God with all the pain in my heart that there is so much to live up to, we are always never most perfect, most beautiful, most well dressed, most thin, most whatever...

ANd i realised it's the old self of me. The one with the issue of self image. I asked myself, what makes the difference between another person and me if we were dressed almost the same? Answer was, that that person may be confident and happy, but i'd be miserable and unhappy.

But that's the old me. It's me, but not any longer.

I went home. spent a quiet walk home. pondered. and my 'musings' lead me once again to the same conclusion. That life is about God. I live my life to worship the Lord. and my heart is at peace. Why in orchard road there was no peace at all? Can anyone find peace there?

And so I wonder at my so-called 'spiritual obsession' and wonder if it's really an unbalanced aspect of life after all... and I realise NO. There is so much more God wants to bestow for me. And I want to live the life that He has for me. As Steven curtis chapman sings, "let all my dreams fall to the ground, till this one remains.... everything my heart desires, let it be for you JESUS... "

And my confidence in Him.. though wavered for a bit... is set straight again.. Even if it's hard being a Christian in this century, I will be one.

I will Stand Up for my faith...