Have you ever felt hungry, yet nothing sounded good to you. You have a craving that needs to be satisfied, but don't know for what. Have you ever tried everything and yet nothing completely. We really can't live on appetizers alone, at some point we need to bite down.
"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid." -- G. K. Chesterton
Analysis Paralysis - consists of weighing and measuring something until what is being weighed and measured is no longer of value.
Sound familiar? It should. It describes many people who are testing the waters of faith without actually diving in. In the words of John Wesley, they are "Almost Christian."
"They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’" Luke 7:32
How many of our congregations are "paralyzed"? Unable to move? Stagnant? Stuck? What keeps them that way? What would it take for them to know and believe that the power and authority of God is in their midst? What is the mat that they live on? their comfortable place to stay? that carries them? that they think they need? What would it take for them to get off the mat and carry it?"
During the 1930's in Germany, theologian Karl Barth said, "When the church bells ring and call the villagers to worship, they come with one question on their hearts. The question: "Is it true?"
These days in America, however, if anybody comes to church with a question, the question is more likely to be, "What's in it for me?"
Some of the fastest growing churches in America are designed like shopping malls with a different boutique for a different taste. As they hold multiple worship services on the weekend, they target different appetites. There will be a contemporary service, a contemporary-lite service, a traditional service, an ethnic music service, and so on and so forth. When we worship in the name of Jesus, we take part in his story.
There are three key questions that arise from this.
(1) What is His story? Do you know what God is doing through Christ in the Church?
(2) What is your roll in the story? Even if you're not a disciple of Jesus, you still have a role in the story, even if it is to serve as an example to others. Many people are remembering the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Who knew that when it was designed, when it was outfitted with luxuries that would make us blush today, and when it boarded over 2,223 on it's maiden voyage, that it would eventually serve as a tragic example of what NOT to do.
(3) What will I say when I meet the Author? When the curtain falls on every play, the playwright steps onto the stage and the drama is at an end. At some point, the curtain will fall and we'll be asked about the roll we played. What will we say?
Someone once said that Hell is that place where the person I am comes face to face with the person I could have been. Email Subscription: