Apathy

I often wonder if one of the hardest sins to overcome is that of apathy: not caring. It has really close ties with unbelief and self-reliance. They're all interweaved and tangle you up in a net. It's what I naturally fall into when I take my eyes off Jesus and start to coast. It's like a slight angling of the heart away from God. Rubbish. Wake up wake up wake up!!

When Sex Leaves the Marriage

I read an interesting article by this title on the New York Times website, posted by Mark Driscoll on Facebook. It painted a picture of sex tending to fizzle out after marriage. One statistic stated "it's estimated that about 15 percent of married couples had not had sex with their spouse in the last six months to one year."

I noticed one random comment place on Facebook which I thought was very insightful:

"The devil does everything he can to get you to have sex before marriage, and everything he can to keep you from having sex after you're married."

Don't Die

Was listening to Matt Chandler again (I think it was 'The Good Fear', a sermon in the Hebrews series) and he made quite an interesting, almost throwaway comment on sanctification. It's on these lines:

It's written into the universe that when something stops growing it begins to die.

How unbelievably true. When we stop growing, stop learning, stop discovering on our walk with Christ we totally lose our momentum. Our faith begins to dry up, shrivel up. Like a great tree beginning to die, it can have all the outward appearance of strength but none of the inward life. It's only a matter of time before it reveals it's true form.

"...you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God."
Hebrews 5:11-12

Oh for a kick up the backside! How easy it is to become dull over the years and suffer a slow, subtle death. God's given us a big bible, there's a lot to discover. Best not think we know it all!

Overcoming Mediocrity

The threat of a mediocre Christian life is one of my greatest fears. There's a sleepiness and a lethargy that is so easy to slip into. You get consumed with day-to-day life and the simple matters of provision. It's a toil and it's wearisome. You spend little time walking with God, seeking out His plan and His purpose. And the years roll by. We may spend our whole lives in that state, die, and stand before the judgement seat of Christ.

"I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."
Revelation 3:1-3

It seems this lethargic, lukewarm Christian life comes about when we take our eyes off Jesus and fix them on our day-to-day needs. We don't trust God to provide. Just like Peter when he steps out of the boat and onto the water. He starts in faith, but sees the wind and becomes afraid. He immediately starts sinking (Matthew 14:22-33).

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
John 14:12

So how do we overcome this sluggish mediocre Christian life? How do we break through this sleepiness? Our whole lives should be caught up imitating Christ and continuing His work. Jesus sets the bar high in John 14:12. I have a few practical thoughts which I'm seeking to apply to my own life:

– We place our relationship with God above all other things. We walk with Him every day, side-by-side, in constant, continual fellowship. If we're too busy, we systematically delete the less important things from our lives to make room. It's far better to be materially poor and spiritually rich.

– We stand on Matthew 6:25-34 for our provision. If our chief goal is to glorify Jesus Christ, to spread the message of salvation and extend His kingdom, we have assurance from God that He will meet our basic needs. (Note to self: this may not include a 40" flat-screen TV with Sky+ subscription, gym membership, a holiday to the Carribean; all of which probably compromise our walk with God anyway!)

– We pursue holiness and the continual filling of the Holy Spirit.

– We learn to love the reproach of God and let Him drive our sanctification. This is the hallmark of a true believer.

– We seek excellence in all the things God has set before us at this present time. Be an excellent husband, an excellent father, an excellent life group leader, a great youth worker. Be excellent at handling your finances. Be excellent in your giving. Everything.

You have to fight for everything

A thought which has been lingering with me for a while is that the work vs church vs social life vs wifey-time vs spending-time-with-God balance is one which is in constant conflict. And the reason for this is as follows:

"Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it ... by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground."
Genesis 3: 17-19

It's the dreaded Genesis 3 curse! Everything beneath you is cursed. Literally everything you try to do is like pushing a boulder up a hill. It's really hard work; one slip and it rolls back and crushes you.

If you could identify the biggest threats to your walk with God, busyness would definitely be at the top of mine. But life is busy, basically, because it's constant toil. And the reason it's toil is because God made it that way when we sinned.

But it must be fair to say that God knew that, and he decided to do it anyway.

So there must be some sort of purpose to this constant struggle, and the need to fight for quiet times, prayer, reading etc. Perhaps to reveal our true priorities, to separate the wheat from the chaff, and those that really love God.

hmmmm..... just a thought.