What if we really lived like Jesus?

Thanks to Tony, I am reading Mere Discipleship by Lee C. Camp. After having read the first two chapters, I am intrigued by the question that Camp raises: What if everyone really lived the way that Jesus and his disciples lived; what if we made Jesus’ life an example and model for our own? The popular opinion, Camp asserts, is that

“the way of Christ is simply not a relevant social ethic, lest injustice reign and the violent vanquish the righteous. Christians cannot take the way of Christ seriously, or society will fall apart, will sink into a spiral of unmitigated violence. Justice is at stake. Civilization itself is at stake. Jesus could not have meant that we take him seriously in the realm of social and political realities—after all, what would happen if everybody did that?! Consequently, “Jesus,” “Christianity,” and even “discipleship” are reduced to a mere “spirituality,” a realm that has little if anything to do with the concrete realities of culture, civilization, and politics.” (page 34)

Christ’s teachings, says Camp, “inform our attitudes, but not our actions” (36). His teachings are something that we internalize for the sake of our spirituality but don’t necessarily live out because it isn’t practical in our society.

I have to wonder, what would happen if all Christians started to live the kind of life that Jesus and the apostles did? What would that entail?

Jesus had a completely self-sacrificing attitude, not just in his death on the cross, but in his life as well. His own personal comfort was secondary to the needs of others. He did not own a house full of stuff. He spent his time taking care of the needs of others rather than working at a job to pay for a house and all the materials to fill it.

What if Christians suddenly decided to live on less money than we earn, buying only what is necessary for life, and using the rest to help others? What if we downsized our houses, got rid of cars with payments and drove—gasp!—paid for cars, stopped eating out so much, bought fewer new clothes, did without the latest gadgets, etc. I think if we did that, we could work less because we wouldn’t have so much to pay for, and we could spend more time with our families, and we could spend more time just being nice to people. We would be healthier because of the reduced stress. Of course, we probably wouldn’t have computers and be here blogging about it.

However, there would be some repercussions on the national economy if Christians suddenly lived like Christ. If we downsized and paid off all our debt, the economy would suffer without our paying all that interest on houses, cars, and credit card purchases. Stores would lose money because we wouldn’t be buying so much. Stocks would plummet. It could cause chaos. We would be blamed for the downfall of the American way of life—and then talk about persecution!

So I guess we’d better stay the way we are. We don’t want to rock the boat or have people look at us like we’re crazy. Living too much like Jesus would be a burden and a cross that we don’t want to shoulder—no matter what Jesus said.