In order to keep a fire burning bright, you must tend to it and feed it, and its continuity must be an ever-present priority in your mind. You can’t start a fire, walk away from it for a month, and then come back and expect to find it burning. By then, there won’t even be smoke or embers, just a dark patch where a fire once burned.
We have a firepit in the
backyard, and during spring and fall, the girls love to sit by the fire and
roast marshmallows. The one thing they like more than the gooey marshmallows is
when I light the fire itself because I’m quite liberal with the lighter fluid,
and whenever I throw a match, it makes a big whoosh. It’s entertaining, and
there’s always a look of awe accompanied by clapping or excited fidgeting. If
there isn’t enough kindling, the big whoosh is all they get, and the fire dies
down just as fast as it started. By now, I am a master of the craft, so there
hasn’t been an instance where the fire died down before they could enjoy it in
some time.
The fires of first love must be
fed constantly with the Word of God lest that which once burned bright flickers
and dies out. When the last thing most churches today encourage their
congregants to do is read the Word, consume it, and be fed by it, it’s no wonder
that the love of many grows cold, and they are constantly looking for some new
revelation to delve into, some hidden knowledge, some sign or other, that more
closely resembles the ruminations of broken minds obsessed with
extraterrestrial supernatural forces than the Bible.
Many have been led to believe
that a flash in the pan will suffice when it comes to their spiritual
longevity. Such individuals constantly relive the same moment when they felt
the urging of the Holy Spirit or when they had an encounter with God, but
because no one ever told them they must keep the flames alive and burning, that
their hunger for Him must never wane, they’ve been dry and cold since that time
forward. Some still go through the motions of sitting in a church pew and
scrolling Facebook while the pastor is preaching; they’ll throw a few bucks in
a plate once in a while, but as far as desiring more of God and His word, as
far as having the hunger for the things of God, that waned long ago.
Christ alone does not satisfy, so
they have to find that other thing to glob onto and make it the center of their
universe, the thing that takes preeminence and becomes a replacement of sorts
for Christ. Whatever that thing is, it becomes their passion and focus, not
Jesus. When we couple that with an utter disinterest in teaching, preaching,
pursuing, or insisting upon holiness unto the Lord, we see that once again, the
words of Jesus were true, and they hit the bullseye, although spoken two
thousand years ago.
Jesus isn’t a currency. He isn’t
something we barter away for a bit of fame or fortune; He isn’t something we relinquish
for the promise of an easier life. He is the Christ, the one who came and died
for the sins of mankind and who promised to one day return to claim His bride
and present her before the Father in heaven.
When we realize that the things
Jesus said would be occurring could not have occurred without a lethargic,
self-obsessed, earth-centered, and duplicitous populace convinced that all it
took for them to spend eternity on a puffy cloud eating grapes from golden
chalices was a thirty-second prayer or the wave of a hand, we begin to see the
intricate details woven into this seemingly straightforward prophecy.
Many will be offended, many will
be deceived, and many will betray their fellow man because they never went
beyond the superficiality of raising a hand in a church service, then spending
the next forty years doing as they will, the thought of Jesus and what He did
crossing their minds once a year, an even then feeling as though they did Him a
service by raising that hand that one time.
We’ve gone from being desperate
for God to believing God is desperate for us to such an extent that He is
willing to overlook any and all stains, wrinkles, or predilections. Jesus gave
His all for your all. That’s the contract. Anything less than your all is
unacceptable to Him. He’s not looking for roommates or someone to split the
electric bill with. Either He is Lord of all of you, or He isn’t Lord at all.
Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I
desired of the Lord, that I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire
in His temple.”
Those were the words of a king.
A man for whom nothing was out of reach, yet his singular desire was to dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. Juxtapose David’s words and
the desire of his heart with Spencer, the grill mechanic, because we can’t call
them burger flippers anymore, who comes along, and when he is presented with
the gospel, he asks if you can sweeten the pot, maybe throw in a toaster oven,
or a raffle for a sweet, sweet Kia. Men today demand concessions from God,
where no concessions can be had, but there’s always someone who comes along
insisting that they could.
Some churches use raffles and
giveaways to grow their congregations and stir interest, as though Jesus
weren’t enough. The only problem is that once the goodies stop being as
inviting, those who were there for something other than fellowship and intimacy
with Christ stop coming as well.
It’s a mindset culminating in situational commitment, situational faithfulness, and situational Christianity. By this, I mean that when someone is surrounded by other believers, they, too, dare to call themselves believers. When they’re out in the world, they try to blend in the best way they can so they don’t draw attention, stand out, or cause the godless to be suspicious of them. Far too many are Christians only when it suits them and not because they’ve been reborn, renewed, and wholly sold out to Jesus. Such people will be the first to fall, the many that will turn their backs on Christ and the cross because while your faith costs you nothing, it’s easy to claim to be a person of faith. When, however, your faith costs you everything, then you are confronted with the reality that the choice has always been binary, meaning that by embracing the one, you will be at enmity with the other.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
No comments:
Post a Comment