Why do many who claim Jesus Christ as Lord not serve Him as such, why are they content to sit on the sidelines, why are the majority of their prayers either self-centered or relegated only to those people and things that directly affect them. Why do many believers refuse to give up their lives for Jesus.
I believe the misconception of this type of thinking gives thought to the idea that He may require of them to become a missionary is some far off land, perhaps He will call them to the pulpit, or ask them to do something for Him that would require them to leave all they know and love. These individuals see complete dedication to the Lord as an inconvenience, they see their own wants and desires as more important than what the Lord would have them to do, and so they do as little as they can, only that which assists them in believing that they are indeed children of God, heirs to the kingdom of heaven.
I will pen these words as often as I am commanded to, there are much fewer people that are truly saved than what we would like to think. Far too many believe themselves to be servants, yet no acts of service can be found in their lives beyond the most menial, and those are only performed with the thoughts of requirements, with the concept that they are fulfilling the commandments of Christ. Todays evangelical churches, not in totality of course, but for the most part, have shown the truth of these statements. Services are attended not for the sole purpose of humbly worshipping before Almighty God as a cohesive unit, at best these individuals attend to verbalize personal requests, at the least they are in attendance because of some feeling of obligation. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25) Has replaced “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” (Mark 16:15) as the catchphrase and doxology of most churches, concern yourself with your position before Christ is the mandate that has taken the place of “But thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Lev. 19:18)
The church is its brother’s keeper as long as that brother attends and remains in good standing within that church. Blatant, unrepentant sinners are given seats of honor because of their positions within the communities, finance committees spend long hours on talks of replacing the grass so the neighbors will not think poorly of them, or of adding a steeple so the building looks more like a church instead of sacrificing for those whom God has called to the field of work, those who have answered the call of Christ, who can clearly see that the fields are white, but the laborers are few. (Matt. 9:37) No, many so-called Christians today simply want their key to that narrow gate, and then they want to get back to what they were doing.
Christ is a rather convenient inconvenience for these people, He does not show up at their house, His Spirit can easily be quenched, the items and occurrences that happen in the lives of these individuals can easily be attributed to “natural occurrences,” if life is going well, they must be pleasing in His sight, if not, then perhaps a little praying is in order, only as a last resort though, of course. They attend a dead church, one with no fruits of the Spirit, one that feels good about itself, one based on emotions, not acts of faith. This is not the rare occurrence anymore, the world has an incredible draw, Christ offers little to them until the moment they walk through the gate of heaven, and even then they see that as only pertaining to themselves and their selfish wants. Self-sacrifice means an hour or so on Sunday morning, Christ is someone they have no personal relationship with, He is not to be shared outside of the church doors, these are the blind being led by the blind, for the one behind the pulpit is either leading them astray, watching the congregation go astray and not speaking the truth in love to them, or is ignorant of the most basic concepts and precepts of the Word of God. The only other alternative beyond these three is that He is causing it on purpose, there are no other viable alternatives.
There are those whose faith is real, but it is weak, “For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) But many have no real faith, they have not truly given their lives to Christ, they are deceiving themselves. You need to know where you are standing, and who it is you are truly standing for.
