This isn't going to be a fluffy, love filled post today. I have something on my heart and I need to share it and I won't apologize for what I'm about to say. Its a fire, a passion burning inside. My son called me last night and his heart is feeling the same as mine and as we talked about God's word and God's will, it really did something to me.
I started reading Romans today. The first chapter is all I concentrated on. I'm humbled, and I'm floored, because I've never sat down and truly READ what Paul is saying. We as a church tend to pick out the verses from the Bible that give us hope and strength, that make us feel better about ourselves, yet we gloss over the verses that command us to do something for God. We want him to do for us and hope he doesn't call us to do for him.
We have become a depraved and wicked generation. Knowing who God is and what He has done - his infinite power and divine nature - and yet we still JUSTIFY our sin - the satisfaction of our flesh - our wants. We not only do these things: envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, slander, gossip, practice arrogance, are boastful, disobey, are senseless, faithless, heartless and ruthless - we not only do these things but we justify it!!
Paul says in Rom 1:25 "We exchanged the truth of God for a lie".
Oh how this grieves my heart. Too often we applaud the sin instead of regretting it. When will the church wake up? When will we quit preaching feel good sermons but instead dig deeper into God's word? We need our eyes opened! We need to be shaken to our core and we need to quit justifying our sins. God deserves more from us than what we are giving Him. We want to be comfortable - sit back and do what we want while others take the message of Jesus to the world. We want to sit in our comfortable churches or home and be told how to make our lives better or easier or richer, yet others in this world don't even know Jesus. Wake up church! The time is short and we are called to spread God's message.
Romans 1:5 "Through Him and for HIS names sake WE RECEIVED GRACE, and apostleship to call people from among ALL the gentiles to obedience that comes from faith".
WE are called - all of us. God didn't say only a few are to be apostles but all have been called. Its time, people of the church, to quit doing what we know we shouldn't do and then justifying it - and start doing what God has called us to do. We are CALLED to make disciples of all nations. The church is just too comfortable in my opinion, and it makes me sad. It grieves my heart. We go to church each Sunday wondering what WE will get out of it. If WE will be fed. We sing the words of the songs with no passion or feeling. We don't raise our hands in worship for fear people behind us will think we are weird. We aren't there for US - we are there for Him! To worship Him! To lift Him up! He deserves it don't you think? WE are there to be equipped to go out and spread his word, not to just hear something to make us feel better about ourselves. We need to be uncomfortable for Jesus.
Its time to wake up and get passionate about Jesus. He was passionate about us. He DIED for us. What are you willing to do for HIM today? Tomorrow? Next week?
I leave you with this from "Not a Fan" by Kyle Idleman: "The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren't actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.". and "Fans often confuse their admiration for devotion. They mistake their knowledge of Jesus for intimacy with Jesus. Fans assume their good intentions make up for the apathetic faith"...
I hope that today this sparks something in your hearts. That Jesus is worth more than what we are giving Him.
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