Day 2613 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Hebrews 6:12 NIV
Yesterday we talked about the vital importance of perseverance in our faith. When all the pomp and pizazz of an enjoyable and exciting holiday has passed, we need to be able to maintain that same passion regarding our faith in the normal, mundane, day-to-day life that encompasses the vast majority of our time here. It's easy to make faith our focus for a day or two as we celebrate the big events, but it should still be just as meaningful and just as important every other day as well.
Problem is that we tend to get lazy. We naturally look for the paths of least resistance in this continuing effort to satisfy our desire to simply slide through life with as little effort or friction as possible. And unfortunately, we don't really do it with just a few things. If we're not careful, that laxity can find its way into every facet of our lives, our faith included. And sadly enough, when you look around at the people who consider themselves to be religious, it can be pretty hard to distinguish any differences from those who have no interest in faith.
One of the issues with our modern take on what Christianity should be is that we're taking it too lightly. We're making it too easy. We're allowing all this room for comfort and complacency that simply shouldn't be allowed. We're losing the light that should separate us from the rest of the world in exchange for the desire to be lazy, to do what's easy, to do what's popular, to avoid some of the friction and strife that those who've gone before us we're willing to endure if it meant the furthering of the Gospel.
It seems that the days of those who were honored to suffer harm or be thrown in prison or even face potential death for their faith are now relegated to history for the most part. These days, some aren't even willing to set aside 10 minutes to read their Bible. Some only remember prayer when they need something. Others only go to church to see a free concert. Still others only like the pedestal that they think wearing a golden cross around their necks apparently gives them. That makes it highly doubtful that they're going to be willing to face an angry mob intent on killing anyone who professes faith in Christ.
We're losing the power and importance of our faith in this effort to have an easier ride through this life. We have speakers who won't denounce sin. We have people who claim to live by faith yet also live like everything is free game because Jesus will fix it when they screw up. We have folks who won't make time for some prayer or studying Scripture but they've got plenty of spare time to go hang out with their friends at a party. Can't get up in time for church but have no problem staying up late the night before.
The problem is that we've settled for allowing our faith to continually be undermined by the promise of excuses. We take our foot off the gas because we know that we can find some excuse later on to make it seem okay. We allow other things to become our focus in life and our faith to slip to the back burner knowing that we can always just say we're sorry and Jesus will forgive us. We just refuse to go all in and instead settle for this lazy version of faith that still allots plenty of room for our worldly desires and human weakness.
Friends, it has to stop! This ain't some game that we get to tinker around with until we find the right blend of God and the world we're living in. We just celebrated the death of our Savior. But it seems that we're not all that interested in sharing in that death part ourselves. But we don't get to pick and choose. God sent Christ to redeem our lives and free our souls from the pitiful excuses for lives that we had been living. Clearly it should mean more to us than something we simply try to find the easiest way to fit into our lives.
There's going to come a time when we're at this point of surrender. It can be something that we put off. We can continue ignoring that fact and avoiding that humility every day that we have left. But the day is coming when our relationships with Christ and our hope in His mercy will be all that we have left. Please don't wait until there's no time left to make it more important. It should be as important as oxygen is to us. It should take precedent over our human desires. It should be the foundation for everything we think, say, and do. And until it is, we're simply not living by faith.
Yes, this is one of those verses that calls us out, and to be honest, we all need that from time to time. We have to stop overlooking the need for perseverance, humility, and complete surrender that our faith demands. Jesus didn't die on that cross to become some pastime in our lives. He died to become our lives, to live in our hearts, to be the very reason for everything we do from this moment forward. We can't keep overlooking that because we owe Him everything, not just the parts of us we have left that we haven't given to other things that we still think matter just as much as Him or our faith in Him.
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