I'm For Christ

In his parable of differing “soils” Jesus specifies some of the reasons certain people initially embrace Christianity, often with a great deal of enthusiasm and fervor, but then after a while bail out never to establish a root system which bears genuine and lasting fruit. Those identified as the first to leave do so because of “a time of testing” (Luke 8:13). This is some kind of painful situation or “persecution” (Matthew 13:21) that arises in a person’s life because of his or her new alliance with Christ. This is easy to imagine, knowing the power of social pressures and the unsympathetic “friends” who are quick to disparage and ridicule one’s confession to follow Jesus. When Christ costs friendships, some new “adherents” of Jesus are quick to say “forget it”. The other primary reason is variously described as “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22), the “pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14), or simply a “desire for other things” (Mark 4:19). The assortment of worldly attractions will certainly put one’s supposed faith to the test. Time will reveal whether people who claim to “follow Christ” will actually experience a God-given consistency in following Christ, or will instead retreat to following their own cravings for the temporal things of this world. So, without being cynical, we must be cautious knowing that based on Jesus’ teaching, not every “I’m for Christ” is genuine.

Empty Phrases

Jesus said that when we pray we should “not heap up empty phrases” (Matthew 6:7). Later he lamented a hypocritical form of worship by quoting the indictment that first came through Isaiah: “These people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew15:8). We must be so careful when we bow our heads to pray, or lift our voices to sing. God is not impressed when we utter mere words such as “Praise the Lord!” or “Hallelujah!” He is looking for worshippers whose spirits (i.e., minds, hearts, and thoughts) are engaged in expressing the meaning of those words (cf. John 4:23). It is easy to melodically recite lyrics of Christian songs, but it takes concentration, sincerity and thoughtfulness to truly worship in song. We should never hide behind fine sounding words while our minds wander through a set of thoughts about something else. This is a special challenge when someone else is leading us in prayer during a church service or at a Bible study. Those words coming from the one composing and vocalizing the prayer must be echoed in our own minds and then thoughtfully directed to God from our own hearts. When we are leading in prayer or praying privately, we must be careful to never “heap up empty phrases” which our minds never grasp or our hearts never direct to God. Real prayer and real worship require our minds. Don’t switch them off. Don’t let them wander. God deserves our full attention and desires our attentive communication.

Who Are You Trying To Impress?

Much of the Bible would have us ponder our coming evaluation. God, our Father and our Judge, will be the One to whom we must give an account of ourselves. And so, the logic goes, we must think of him when it comes to our decisions, words, actions and work. Our stewardship before God should always be in the forefront of our minds. And yet it seems we so often fail to walk with this kind of faith, walking instead by sight, seeking to garner the approval of those we can presently see and hear. We so desperately want the words and nods of affirmation from those around us, which may or may not coincide with the approval that really matters. Does it, in the end, make any real difference if we have impressed those we see each day and yet fail to hear “well done” from our Creator? Will it really bring us any lasting benefit to gain heaping approval from our neighbors and coworkers, if we later discover that we have been an offense to the One who died for us? How important our daily time in God’s word should be to us – our time to reflect on who and what is worth living for. The disapproval we so fear on earth may be nothing less than applause in heaven. May we learn to live for our Maker and our Redeemer whom we will soon see face-to-face. May we comprehend with clarity the futility of living to impress the world and each other.

Funerals

It is remarkable that non-Christians, agnostics and staunch secularists turn into weeping and hope-filled theologians at their loved ones’ funerals. People that rarely give God a thought or ten minutes of contemplation take up the microphone and tearfully recite their poems about the fishing, feasting and frolicking in “heaven”. They speak confidently of their departed friend living at peace and in comfort - enjoying “a better place” forevermore. They reference the eternal gifts of God but hurry to leave the ceremonies and gravesites to live, as the deceased once did, in open defiance of God. They continue to mock God’s truth, malign Christ’s followers and disdain all the truths that their Creator has inscribed in his word. All, that is, except the biblical references that speak of eternal pleasures and heaven’s rest. Their glaring hypocrisy goes undetected. People gleefully claim the benefits of the One they openly despise. In the first century Paul said that the difference between Christian and non-Christian funerals was that the former was tempered with hope and the latter was not (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Today, with our culture’s resolve to defy facts with feelings, to replace logic with wishing, and to selfishly claim all available benefits whether provision has been made for them or not, it should be no surprise that non-Christian funerals brim with overweening hope. Though it is a false hope, one that tragically insulates the ceremony’s participants from any urgency to make peace with their Maker. When in the end that is all that matters. The gravity of death ought to lead the living to humbly reach out to God in repentance. For to have any real hope of the blessings of heaven we must be made right with its King through a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ.