The Travesty of the Spiritual Couch Potatoes

My fingers have spent hours tapping away on my keyboard, trying to squeeze out a blog entry. Since my last post on October 15th, God has moved so fantastically in my life. My eyes have been opened to a world I always knew existed but failed to live in; I had merely visited.

The change has been so overwhelming that I literally can't put it into words and still do it justice. It is something that must be experienced firsthand - which is why so few believe in it, and thus fail to live it. Though it seems pessimistic, in this post I'm going to be talking about the most common Christian failure.

As I've written before, until I was about 8 or 9 my family went to a Baptist church. Since then, we've gone to a church that could easily be called non-denominational. It's got aspects of many denominations, but has never truly fit inside the box of a particular one - and that's something that it loves. Anyone can walk into our church and fit in.

I didn't open this post today to bash my church, which it may sound like I'm about to do. But I promise you that I am not. I'm heavily involved in my church and I love being there. However, there are several things that I would change if given the chance, one of them being this: my church's focus is to evangelize. It loves to welcome new people to the faith. Every weekend (and every Wednesday too!) I see dozens of people giving their lives to Christ. For that, my church is a wonderful one. I typically always love the sermons, and tend to agree with my pastor's theology. But there's something missing. It seems like it lacks that next step, for people who are already into their walk with God and ready for some revolutionary stuff to happen. I'm one of those people.

For that, most churches (mine included) suggest that you check out one of their home small groups. My parents belong to two of those groups. But where do I fit in? I don't. My church doesn't have a small group program for serious, devoted teens. And that's something I would like to change. Where is the serious Christianity for the teenagers? My age certainly isn't looked down upon at my church, but it's not glorified either. But anyways. That's starting to get off topic.

I think my point is that this is where so many churches fail Christians. The church's focus is on getting people inside their building, converting them, and letting them leave. But what about the people who are already there? What about the people who desire something more than for their hand to be raised one time and be done with things? This is the failure of the church.

Instead of focusing almost solely on converting people as if they're sheep to be sheared, the church should spend a lot of time and devote a lot of energy into equipping its existing members. What good is a church body of 5 million if only 50 of its members go out and heal the sick or help the needy?

Churches spend a lot of time focusing on organizing mission trips, which are great. Don't get me wrong. But step outside. Look at your neighbors. I can guarantee you that at least one of them has something in their life that you can fix. Why are we not helping them, our very own neighbors? How is Guatemala or Burma any different that your very own street? People are in need of something every single place you look. If you live with someone, I'd bet that they've got something you could help them with. If you're a Christian, you have power in the name of Jesus, granted to us by the Father, delivered to us by the Holy Spirit to pray over sick people and heal them. If you've got the Holy Spirit, you are able to prophesy to people. Through Him you can speak in tongues or preach or see into the spiritual realm. Those things are very real. Yet we live as if the only healers are doctors with drugs, the only prophets are those that died during Bible times, the only tongues are Russian and Chinese, the only preachers are those in the pulpit, and the only seers are those committed to mental institutions.

One song by Casting Crowns comes to mind. Listen to this song and read the lyrics. Open up your heart and let it stab you.

This is a burden of mine. I ache for the dying church. If Christianity were to go on forever exactly as it is right now, we would not be changing the world. We would merely be existing within it. And that, my readers, is a problem. Christians shouldn't be spiritual couch potatoes.

That's one thing that God has shown me so clearly in the past few weeks. The body is dying. We are almost all failing to live life inside the body. This is why Christians are so often called hypocrites. Because we are. If you actually read the Bible, you'll see some of God's explicitly clear commands. But where are they being carried out? So few people actually live the Christian life that God designed.

The majority of the Christian church as it is right now is a living but dying travesty. At its best the mainstream church mocks what Christians once were and should still be. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a breathing travesty.

Jesus did not die on the cross for us to be travesties. So what are you going to do about that?