As followers of Christ, what are we doing? I have definitely grown in my faith over the last 3 years and I have grown past some that I respect in their walk with Christ. What I mean by that is as I have grown and had an increased level of excitement, commitment and love to follow Christ, I have watched others who have been followers for many years, stay in the same place. Why is that? What keeps people from growing in their faith?
Going through the motions. Our churches are filled with people who want to be there at 10 AM, really, they arrive later because 10 AM on a Sunday is too early. They want to be fed the word, but not challenged or made to feel uncomfortable. They want to then leave out the back at 11:05...a minute or two past and they are upset that they were there too long and the preacher needs to change.
What causes this lack of devotion? If you believe the Gospel, then you believe that a great thing was done for you and yet, you repay it with indifference. If someone did you a huge favor in this world that saved your life, marriage, financial situation, you would do anything for that person. Yet, as followers of Christ, we have been given the greatest gift of all and yet we reject it through our indifference, through our selfishness, and through our inability to see ourselves for what we are...sinners.
We often use the perspective argument: "I am not as bad as such and such". That is not the way to think. Don't compare yourself to others, we can always justify ourselves to victory in that comparison. Compare yourself to what you should be. Don't believe that you can do nothing wrong. Accept that you do....every day and every situation has two sides of the story. Most of the time those two sides have enough wrong in them to cover for everybody. Yet, we can't seem to accept that.
It is disheartening in being a follower of Christ sometimes. I used to believe that the single greatest issue attacking my faith were non-believers, now I believe it's those who sit in the pews each and every Sunday and haven't grown spiritually in many years. I believe it's those people and the others who say "Give it time, he will calm down and be the same as he used to be".
I have no desire to ever be the same as I used to be.
