Too Easily Satisfied

I have been thinking a lot about how we do "church" lately and our attitude of Christianity. I have many mixed emotions and often wonder what does God think about all of it. What does He think of our meager attempts at life?

We know from scripture that the church is the Body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) We are also the temple within which His Spirit dwells. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) So why does the worship service at church feel like some kind of game. We get dressed up, put on a show for others (pretending that all is fine in our lives- we never sin...), and then do the same thing every Sunday. We sing and listen. I am not saying that any of this is wrong, but it feels all to rehearsed. We have everything so well thought out and planned, but it seems like we forget what it is all about. I do understand that we cannot just enter corporate worship without some kind of structure..but something is missing.

All of life is an act of worship. Everything that we do is to glorify God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)We are to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So why does a normal church service seem so odd to me? What more should be happening? Are we settling for what our culture says church should look like?

We are too easily satisfied with small things. I know that God wants for us to enjoy everything He has given us, that is not what I mean. What I am saying is that we are satisfied with small worship of a Big God! It is so evident in the way that many of us live. Take His word for example. God's word is powerful (Hebrews 4:12) and when it is preached, it changes lives. The Holy Spirit uses it to transform our hearts, lives, thoughts: our entire being. But how do we treat the Scriptures? Most do not even read them.

Back in the Reformation, we broke away from the Catholic Church, but many still live like we did not. Many reformers died and were in horrible situations so that they could have their own copy of God's Word so they could read it and know Him. We go to church and expect the pastor to tell us about God's word and never read it for ourselves. It is as if we still have a Priest being our mediator between us and God. Why? Christ is our mediator, our Priest and we should be doing all we can to know Him, but we do not. We are satisfied with a little bit of God here and there. Where is our hunger? Where is the passion that we should have for the Creator of the Universe? Now not everyone can be a theologian (nor has God called us all to be), but why do we not even try to understand God's word. So many people are walking around, claiming the name of Christ, yet they never seek to know Him through His word. They are satisfied with what other people tell them and that is all they need. Why?

What about our view of our own sin? How small we see it as, if we even see it at all. Without the Word read, how can there be conviction? All of this affects our worship.

In the Old Testament, people went to the temple to offer sacrifices for their sins and to worship God for His presence dwelt there. When Christ came all of that changed, He made a way for us to be with God anywhere. God's presence was not in a building, but would live within the hearts of His people. So why do we not live that out? We should come into His presence with humble hearts, wanting to hear from God. Wanting to die to our sins. Not just at church, but all the time. I have a hard time seeing our joy, sorrow, despair, excitement... anything in the community of Christ. Church has become something we do instead of an act of worship. Life is just what we do, instead of worship.

We spend all our time at work, school, on the Internet, watching t.v., running here and there and to what purpose? Is what we are doing glorifying to God or ourselves? We are too satisfied with the world and our culture and we are missing out on knowing our Lord.

God is calling us to more. We are called to live in a community, to be the body, to love each other ( John 13:34) and His Word, to walk in the truth (1 John 1:5-10), to seek God ( Deuteronomy 4:29) and love Him with all that we are (Deuteronomy 6:5).... The list could go on. Let's change our hearts and love the lives that God has called us to live. Let us love His word and desire to know it. Let us not play church anymore- but come with humble repentant hearts that are transparent. Let us not be satisfied with anything but knowing God and enjoying Him, let that affect all that we are and how we live.