Monday, December 26, 2011
December 26
“We can be deceived into assuming God is more interested in our activity for Him than He is in the condition of our hearts. God has consistently made it clear that He will not be pacified by even the most generous offerings and zealous service if our hearts are not right with Him (Micah 6:6-8).” H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 12/6
This is when living by example is not such a good thing. We come into a church a “baby” Christian, see the good works of others, and are either solicited to join in the good works or choose to on our own so that we’ll fit in. If that is the order in which we do things we’ll have missed the whole point of being a Christian! Our good works must be an outgrowth of our relationship with God. It reminds me of the story I once heard about a woman who would cut off the end of her roast before placing it in the pan to bake it. One day her daughter asked her why she did that. Her reply was “My mother always did it,” but she didn’t know why either. So together they went to the grandmother and asked her why. She replied, “Because it wouldn’t fit in the pan otherwise.” Too often we do things just because others are doing them and in the process do them for the wrong reason. Our duty as mature Christians is to teach the new Christians. They must be taught about the Holy Spirit’s role in their lives and what God expects from them. If we don’t do that, they are in danger of making assumptions that are wrong and will lead them away from God rather than closer.
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I don't necessarily agree with the example, but I do agree with the end lesson. When we first become Christians (babies in your example) we may have been attracted by the fellowship, music, preaching, whatever. So we join. This is not a bad reason to join the community of Christ because we are learning. As we learn and grow in Christ, it is a bad reason to stay. Being a Christian is not "joining a club", it is a "marriage". The two shall be one.
ReplyDeleteYour example that being a Christian is a marriage is so true because every church I've left because they did not teach by example felt like a divorce! It is difficult to break away when you've found a fellowship of sorts....but we must make sure we aren't just gathering to commiserate about our trials or for some emotional high or so we can feel good about ourselves because we've kept the law in our opinion, but rather for the purpose of being encouragers to one another to grow in our faith (Hebrews 10).
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