Why is it that so many kids raised in Christian homes are bored, disconnected, and discontented with God and the Christian life? What makes the story that once turned the world upside down seem mundane to people who know it well? I'm not referring to kids who have thought about it deeply, taken it seriously, and then rejected it because on some level they disagree or do not believe. That's one thing. I'm talking about kids who know and believe that Jesus died for them; they just don't really care.
I don't get that. And its not just kids. I can look around during a worship service and see a number of faces registering boredom. Faces of adults who have been 'believers' for decades. Does the message of Christianity just get boring after a while? I don't see how that's possible. Is it that people just forget that they are sinful and daily in need of a Savior?
If that's the case, let me offer a sobering reminder to those of us who sometimes begin to take the gospel for granted. I'll put it in the first person - so that it doesn't seem like I am exempt from this truth.
I am selfish. I think about myself before I think of others. Sometimes I put my wants or needs aside, but often I don't. I judge other people for choices that I see as wrong, even though that's not my job. I am impatient when people don't understand, even when my 2 year old doesn't understand. I have exaggerated the truth, flat out lied, used the name of God in vain, and obsessed over my own stuff, my own life, and my own issues. I am a sinner.
God is good. Holy, just, merciful, faithful, loving, gracious, compassionate. . . think of something good - anything good. That's my God. He is incapable of thinking wrong, doing wrong, or being wrong. He created the universe - our galaxy and every star in it. He knit us together, knew us before we were born. He is awesome. He is God.
So what about me is so good? Why am I so deserving of His love and acceptance? I'm not. And when we forget that the cross is all about God offering something that we do not and will never deserve then we lose our sense of gratefulness for His sacrifice. . . and the cross becomes a cheesy Christian symbol instead of the very source of life that makes us new and washes us clean.
You're a sinner too. But when you look at the cross of Jesus, remember that his work there was enough to wash even the darkest, deepest stains clean. You are God's twice.
First He made you. Then He bought you back.
I just wanted to share a comment one of my girls made and affirm her. In response to this blog she said that some Christians who really do sense the awe and wonder of Christs' death on the cross might not express that joy and gratefulness in ways that we would see on their faces. . . Sometimes their still faces are more a sign of reverence than boredom.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!! By no means do I want to insinuate that if you aren't jumping up and down and shouting hallelujah you aren't grateful for the cross. There are those who choose to show their gratefulness in more private, personal ways. That's cool. But we all need to admit and recognize that in churches across this country there are also those who warm a pew each week and leave with hearts left unchanged and unchallenged by God's word. We don't judge and condemn those people. . . but we pray for them to one day see the beauty of the cross and be moved by it.
Thanks for you thoughts S.! Love ya!
oh, and that closing comment on the post came from a sermon I heard this weekend. . . it was the punch line for a story about a boy who made a boat, lost it, found it in a store window and ended up having to buy it back. Good story. Good message.
ReplyDelete=)