You wake up and its Sunday morning, the attire is a little different, the thoughts of the day are altered slightly, but not to a great degree. You are wondering how the Johnsons have been doing, if Mrs. Ellison’s back is feeling better, the kids are all ready, finally, everyone is in the car, time to go.
Small talk on the way home about the new carpet in the foyer, deciding what to have for lunch. Wednesday morning, hit the snooze button, get some coffee going, maybe the red tie today, traffic isn’t too bad, fulfill the obligation to the job, wonder what’s for supper tonight. Repeat for a few more years, add a little more here and there, watch something removed or taken away occasionally, get old, die.
There’s the vapor, (James 4:14) there’s your life, what, two, three paragraphs, and then what, you expect to go to heaven? Why, what did you do, raise up some decent kids who have their own paragraph or two about the entirety of their life, because you were kind and polite most of the time, fulfilled your husbandly duties, tried to help the world be a better place, showed up to church? You will know them by their works, (Matt. 7:20) and you will be judged by your works, (Matt. 7:2) so tell yourself then, tell yourself how Sunday morning was any different from Wednesday morning or Friday evening, save perhaps an occasional prayer for yourself when things were not going so well, maybe there wasn’t as much singing on Tuesday afternoon, but hey, you were a good guy, a nice person.
Vapor fades away, like the steam from a tea kettle, it is visible for a short time and then vanishes, no water, no steam, and that is the whole of life for most people and for many who claim Christ as Lord, nothing but hot air. Sunday morning is an emotional time for them, not an opportunity to worship the Lord in the presence of other believers, it is their weekly fix, their “feel good” time, their opportunity to show others that they are following Christ, at least until they walk out of the church doors.
Did you know that there have actually been times in our past, some of them recent times, where men actually feared God, not only in the terminology that if they stepped out of line that they would be punished, but in the form of extreme reverence, in the acknowledgement that He alone is Holy, Sovereign, Righteous, and worthy of all praise. Find that in the local churches today, find that in yourself Thursday evening or Wednesday morning, that is why it is called the great falling away, (2 Thess. 2:3) some are still attending the local church services, few are still worshipping, some still seek for His guidance, but usually only on Sunday morning. “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” (Matt. 15:8)
Think on this my friends, why is the great and terrible day of the Lord approaching, (Joel 2:31) is it because the heart of man is only evil continually, is it because sin is rampant, covering the entire planet in ways never seen before, or is it because the majority of people who say they serve Christ are only doing so with their lips, and the Lord will no longer allow His name to be blasphemed.
Who has caused the falling away, Satan, God, or people, you can blame anybody of anything you want to, you can look over your life and see a good person or a born-again believer, but you only have one place to verify what you find there, and that is in the Word of God. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:22) I think I understand now why so many people I meet who say they are Christians want the Lord to return, for the rapture to happen on Sunday morning, they don’t want Him to know that on Wednesday they are not paying any attention to Him.