Tag: relationship

Categories
Christian Living

The Trouble with Lip-Service Christianity

Okay. We’ve made it all the way to post #2 for 2017. For those skeptics out there as to whether I can top last year – I only have to post 6 more times to surpass my dismal 2016 showing… so I am well on my way! Regarding as to what days to check for new posts, my plan is to send one out three times a week – on Mon, Wed, & Fri mornings.

I have a few quotes, passages, and thoughts that I had planned to share in 2016 which I never did, so before I move into sharing some newer thoughts for 2017, I am going to strap into my time machine and go back 11 months to pick up some ideas that I jotted down last year when I was a much younger man. Let’s start with the idea of Lip-Service Christianity:

God doesn’t want a relationship with you where you only talk to Him once a week on Sunday morning for an hour, or where you ask Him for things only when you are in big trouble, or where you pay lip-service to being a Christian but have no actions that back up your words.

Can you imagine being in a marriage with someone who tells you: “I really care about you, but due to the fact that I am really busy, we will only be able to spend time together one hour a week – let’s say Monday night for dinner – I’ll carve that hour out and we’ll eat together at a restaurant each week – you will have my undivided attention for that entire hour – I’ll even let you choose the restaurant. During the rest of the week, if I need you then I’ll call you. And regarding the weekends, you know that it is important for me to have time for myself for recreation to get recharged for the upcoming week. But it will make that one hour a week on Monday nights really good – something we both really look forward to.”

How ridiculous. Of course we’d never agree to such a relationship. So why would we think that God wants a relationship with us like that?

Let’s be honest – He doesn’t.
photo of person reading the Bible symbolizing the question - does reading the Bible have any value? Is it important?He wants us to spend time with Him every day where He is speaking to us through our reading of His Word. And then He wants us to spent time with Him every moment of the day through continual prayer. And if we do so, then it will change our behavior.

Move out of Lip-Service Christianity into a relationship with Jesus that changes your life.

And that will only happen as you make the intentional effort to start reading the Bible. If you aren’t sure where to start, I’d recommend Mark, then John, then Acts. As you read, jot down some ideas to pray about from what you are reading, and when you finish reading, stop and pray for each.

Categories
Worship

Bored in Church

Church is boring. At least that’s what a lot of people think.

the word "bored" written over and over again repeticiously

Have you ever been bored in church? (If you are thinking “Yes, it was while you were preaching,” then just keep those nasty comments to yourself!). Certainly we have all had moments when we were bored in church and found ourselves counting the number of lights in the sanctuary or daydreaming or making a “to do” list or snoring in our sermon-induced sleep. Plenty of people probably have wanted to say something along these next lines but just weren’t willing to be this honest:

Parent: “Well, how did you like Sunday School?”
Child: “I didn’t like it a bit. It was horrid. …Mr. Bell made an awfully long prayer. I would have been dreadfully tired before he got through if I hadn’t been sitting by that window. But it looked right out on the Lake… so I just gazed at that and imagined all sorts of splendid things.”
P: “You shouldn’t have done anything of the sort. You should have listened to Mr. Bell.”
C: “But he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to God and he didn’t seem to be very much interested in it, either. I think he thought God was too far off to make it worthwhile.”

Ha! Out of the mouths of babes! I’ve had those same feelings before, too! But also I wonder how often do my prayers seem contrived and disinterested like Mr. Bell’s? I want a powerful prayer life that is focused on a relationship with God, rather than just using Him as an impersonal wishlist provider.

The child ends with – “I said a little prayer myself, though. There was a long row of white birches hanging over the lake and the sunshine fell down through them, ‘way, ‘way down, deep into the water. …It gave me a thrill and I just said, ‘Thank you for it, God,’ two or three times.”

God, may my prayers be like that – may they flow out of me as naturally as I breathe this air, and may it all be due to me seeing how You are working around me! Help me to never be disinterested in you or feel that you are too far away to be worthwhile.

(Quoted dialogue written about 100 years ago in the book “Anne of Green Gables.” Guess church has had the potential for being boring for a very long time.)