God is all that matters.
We've conditioned ourselves to hear messages without responding. Sermons have become Christian entertainment. We go to church to hear a well-developed sermon and a convicting thought. We've trained ourselves to believe that if we're convicted, our job is done. If you're just hearing the Word and not actually doing something with it, you're deceiving yourself.*
How many times does this happen? We feel convicted and know what we should change. But none of us ever get around to doing anything about it.
We are complacent.
Comfortable.
Self-filled.
Conceited.
Lovers of money.
We are Pharisees. We think we are doing right. We go to church, even worship, pray, and learn. We seek more truth. We strive to be good.
But we totally miss the point.
God doesn't call us to be comfortable and blessed. He doesn't call us to meet together weekly in our fully-furnished buildings, to sing certain songs or shake hands with our fellow believers.
Are those wrong? No way. God has given all of those things to us. He has blessed us richly.
But that's not the crux of what He's called us to do.
He's called us to be generous.
Loving.
Selfless.
Without.
To place others first.
To give all we have to the poor.
To share with God's people in need.
To reach out to someone outside our walls.
To love the unloveable.
To teach the unteachable.
To pray without ceasing.
To suffer.
He asks us to be like Jesus. We think we are. We are kind and gentle. We keep our mouths clean. We pray for others.
But we only do the easy stuff. The comfortable. The things that fit nicely into our Sunday mornings at church.
Then it's off for six and a half more days to ourselves.
We completely miss the point.
God is the point.
God is all that matters.
Forgive us.
Teach us to be like You.
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*Crazy Love by Francis Chan
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