Life can change on a dime. History can also change in a moment and can be, and has been, changed by individuals. This tends to happen when individuals are “Immersers” and not “fringers”. It is when someone decides to be authentic. Meaning real and genuine in what they believe, not counterfeit. Immersers understand that you cannot totally see what you have not personally experienced. They understand that you can read and hear and have “head knowledge” but it is in immersing yourself that you become “authentic!”
Do you know God or do you know about God? Do you pray or do you rely on the prayers of others? Do you go to church on Sunday and spend anywhere from sixty minutes to 120 minutes (that would include a sermon and small group) or do you dive into God’s word every day of the week? Do you write checks and volunteer at a soup kitchen during Thanksgiving? Or do you commit daily or weekly, giving up personal time, to get emotionally and financially involved in the needs of others, other than the opportunities that the church presents? Do you let the left hand know what the right hand is doing? What do you creep on? Crash on? Stalk on? Answering these questions personally will help you to understand if you are an Immerser or a fringer.
A fringer is someone who looks at life as a “drive through window” (what’s convenient), a “buffet” (pick and choose according to your desires), a “google search” (fast and easy), a “window shopper” (tries on but never buys), a “fan” (who complains but has never been in the game), a “graduate” (who never reads because it stops with their degree)…………….In essence, they choose to miss the opportunity to be authentic. Authenticity leads to significance.
God did not create us to be “FRINGERS,” to live life in the known, easy and comfortable. He created us to be Authentic……and to be authentic…… you have to “get in the game”, not watch from the sidelines. You have to “suit up”, “stand up”, “step up” and then “step out!” Peter did not walk on water until he “STEPPED OUT OF THE BOAT”. God created all of us with a unique fingerprint. He handcrafted us “authentically” to do “significant” things that are unique to us. Life is not about staying clean. It is about getting dirty! How in the world can we truly appreciate a “hot bath” and being clean if we have never been dirty? Or how much better would food taste if we went “Hungry”? How do we ever appreciate success if we have not experienced failure?
During football season it always amazes me the amount of people I see drunk, especially young adults. I often wonder what would happen to them if they got “drunk” on the authentic love of Christ and found true significance instead of a “drive through good time” that is temporary? I have been so convicted lately when I throw away tailgate food and then I see pictures of starving children all over the world who could be fed for days on what I throw away. I have even thought about the time I give to pleasure and measuring it against the time I serve others? As God has worked on my heart and continues to teach me through HIS word, the scales continue to drop off my eyes on what it means to “take up the cross” and be “All IN” the game of significance for which I was/you were created.
God’s formula for an Authentic life is found in Luke 9:23, “Then He (Jesus) said to them all, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'” Being an “immerser” means being a follower of Christ and giving up the “pick and choose” buffet and maybe even going hungry to feed someone else. It certainly includes denying self! I love the quote by Mark Batterson, “NO one can spot potential like Jesus. And that’s because He’s the one who gave it to us in the first place. Potential is God’s gift to us. What we do with it is our gift back to God.”