Sunday, August 03, 2008

Complacent to God

We’re complacent to God. Churchgoers pack the pews and sing to the back of someone’s head. Fellowship is lost in formality. One, two, three times a week people pay their dues by walking in the door, enduring a ritual, and walking out. Guilt is appeased. God is insulted. Are we so naive as to think that he needs our attendance? Are we so ignorant that we put God in a box, thinking he can be taken in and out at our convenience?
Max Lucado, On the Anvil, p. 26, Tyndale 1985

2 comments:

Cori said...

I sometimes find myself thinking during a church service: Here was two hours of a group of people who claim to follow Jesus sitting in these pews who COULD have been out there transforming their community. I don't know if thats what you meant in this post but I sometimes wonder about sitting in pews on a Sunday thinking that THAT is what worshipping God is all about...

Anonymous said...

Worship is not something we do, it is something we offer. We offer God our praise and thanksgiving for all that he has done through Christ. Worship is also a communal event during which the saints gather in community; the community instituted by God for the purposes of strengthing and nourishing one another.

In a sense, I disagree with Lucado in that we ought not be niave to think God wants us to gather for worship. Even Jesus gathered with the community, family and friends for the very ylsame purpose.

Where we fall short is making that hour or two on Sunday our only offering to God. Living the Christian life means living for God each and every moment. It is so easy to give in to a world of empty promise. This is why we depend on the community of the church. we are to hold one another accountable to living out the gospel.