Raise your hand if you love to drink water that has set out on the counter for a few days.
How about eating a slice of bread or a cookie that has set on the table uncovered?
I’d like to think the vast majority (if not everyone) are thinking that doesn’t sound very appetizing at all. But why not? It’s still water, it’s still a cookie, and it’s still bread. What’s wrong with a little staleness?
A few years ago, I first read a book called Crazy Love (I’m sure many of you have heard me reference it before) but it’s a book I loved so much that I have used it as a Graduation book, I’ve referenced it and read parts of it during churches services, I’ve given several copies away, and now it’s being used and studied in the Sr. High youth group on Sunday nights.
Why do I bring that up? Because as I was sitting at my desk at 11 AM on Monday, the 27th thinking about what to write for my article for the Unity update that was due on the 26th (Sorry Glenna), I couldn’t help but think back to the chapter that we covered last night. I think it was an eye opener for some of the kids, so, I’d like to share few sections of what we read last night, but there are a few blanks, let’s see if you can fill them in.
_____ attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected, it’s what “good Christians” are believed to do, so they go
_____ Give money to charity and to the church… as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living. If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to give they do so. After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right?
____ don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it; they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them. ______ don’t really believe that this new life Jesus offers is much better than the old sinful one.
____ gauge their morality of “goodness” by comparing themselves to the secular world. They feel satisfied that while they aren’t as hard-core for Jesus as so-and-so, they are nowhere as horrible as the guy down the street.
____ will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give
____ think about life on earthy much more than eternity in heaven. Daily life is mostly focused on today’s to-do list, this week’s schedule, and next month’s vacation. Rarely if ever, do they intently consider the life to come.
____ do whatever is necessary to keep themselves from feeling to guilty. They want to do the bare minimum, to be “good enough” without it requiring too much of them.
____ probably drink and swear less than average, but besides that, they really aren’t very different from your typical unbeliever. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn’t be more wrong
____ feel secure because they attend church, made a profession of faith at age twelve, were baptized, come from a Christian family, vote Republican, or live in America. Just as the prophets in the Old Testament warned Israel that they were not safe just because they lived in the land of Israel, so we are not safe just because we wear the label Christian or because some people persist in calling us a “Christian nation”
O.K. I’ll stop at that one, (there were, and can be, several more) But have you figured out what the key phrase is yet that I left out of each phrase? It is “Lukewarm People.” The above phrases are things that can be associated with lukewarm people. (I did not include the Biblical references for any of them, but trust me; they are included in the book and can share them with you if so desired)
Now some of you may be thinking you remember reading some of these in an article of the past. Good work, your memory serves you well, (Feb. 2010) but I thought it might be entertaining to revisit these. But now I ask everyone to go back and re-read them all, but instead of putting “Lukewarm Christian” in the blank, insert your own name. How many of the phrases can be considered true then after you do that? I hope it’s none, but if we must be honest with ourselves, I’m willing to bet at least one of them is true for everyone, and yes, that includes me.
Why do I bring these all up? Because we as Christian are all called to live a better life, to live a life worthy of the calling that God has placed on our lives, and to do “just enough” isn’t living that life. We need to continue to live our life for the God that continues to pray for us every day. (See Romans 8: 26-27)
It’s the season of Lent, the time year of giving something up (which like our New Year’s resolutions rarely works) let’s try something different. Instead of giving something up for 40 days, let’s add something to our life for 40 days and see what happens. Let’s add 10 minutes of prayer/silence to our day, let’s add 30 minutes of scripture reading, let’s add 15 minutes of _________ (Fill in the blank)
Let’s throw away the staleness of life and keep everything fresh!!
