Day 2707 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Ephesians 5:14 NIV

Yesterday we discussed what it is that God sees when He looks down at us from His Heavenly throne. Does He see a people after His heart, or a people stubbornly following their own? Does He see soldiers of faith willing to uphold the difficult task of sharing the truth in a world that finds joy in lies, or servants of self that bend and conform to whatever message society wants to hear? Does He see anyone boldly standing in the light of Christ desperately reaching out to those who are hurting, or just a bunch of folks still lost in the dark but oblivious to that reality? Does He see movement and action and passionate revival of faith, or just a bunch of lukewarm religious devotees who think they’ve done enough already?

Sadly, much of what we're seeing are the latter of those sets of possibilities. And considering the rapidly declining state of things down here, it really makes you wonder just how things have gotten this bad and why there’s so few saying anything about it. Why is it being laughed about? Why is it being ignored? If there are so many Christians in this place, then why does it seem that we hear more from the sinful than we do the faithful? If we are truly followers of us Christ, then why aren’t more absolutely broken at the condition of the souls who are lost around us and the darkness in this world that is still dragging people down? If we’re growing in Christ then why is sin still something we allow to be ignored both in our lives and in the world around us?

If we are willing to bear the title ‘Christian’ which contains the name of Christ, then there ought to be evidence in our lives that we’ve been illuminated by His saving grace. Our redemption from sin and our passion for following His example and spreading His message should radiate out from us. But often times it doesn’t, and when it doesn’t we should ask ourselves why that is. Why are we willing to entertain the filth in this world if we’re truly believing in a faith that tells us that filth cost a man His life to atone for our mistakes so that we wouldn’t have to? Why are we willing to sit on the sidelines and barely scrape by on some meager existence that amounts to nothing more than some fearful prayers tossed up when the persecution becomes a little harder to avoid?

The sad reality is that complacency has managed to become a large factor in all of our lives in some way. But what's truly scary is that it seems to even be welcome in our faith. We rest on what's already been done. We assume we've done enough and God will pick up any pieces we've yet to address. We allow ourselves to become stagnant, cold, dead in this pathetic assumption that there's nothing we need to work on and nothing we can do to make a difference. We allow ourselves to get to this point where we don't really even keep searching our own lives for things we're doing wrong as we feel that we can just take God's mercy for granted and assume that He will forgive us for the things we'd rather not address. So it’s no wonder at why things are being allowed to go so badly down here. We barely have any interest in continuing to work on our own lives, let alone trying to help anyone else.

For too long, our faith has been allowed to grow cold and complacent. Just live as if nothing is wrong so that we don’t have to do anything hard or scary. Just let the preachers do the talking. Just assume that someone else will tell that person about Jesus or warn them about sin. Just assume that the world will eventually pull itself together and stop being so foolish. Just leave it up to Jesus to reach people where they are so we don’t have to go to them. Just assume that maybe everyone already knows about Jesus and so we don't need to keep harping on it. Just assume that God will sort us all out later and all we need to do is wait patiently until He returns to start the process.

Rather than getting to work in our lives and in our society, we just keep finding reasons we can’t or excuses that let us feel like we don’t have to. Rather than fixing our lives and hating the sin that’s still in our hearts, we choose to live with this assumption that God’s mercy affords us the right to do as we please even if it means keeping Christ on the cross so we can live with our desires on the throne. Rather than stepping out of our comfort zones where we can avoid the hateful and violent, we choose to sit quietly on the fringes of this world like the good little boys and girls we’ve been told to be so the world can go on doing whatever it wants without anyone there to call attention the wickedness of it all.

When does it stop? When are we going to say enough is enough? When are we going to become so disgusted by sin that we finally feel this fire inside that won’t let us ignore it any longer? When will we realize that we’re called to grow in Christ by taking up our cross and following Him down a path that requires us to die to self and abhor sin and live the rest of our stay here violently chasing righteousness and living like our faith means something? When will we wake up from this foolish slumber that we’ve embraced for so long to realize that if we don’t do something then nothing will change?

Friends, evil is powerful and we see proof of that in the complacency that’s made us believe that we can stop where we are and trust that we’re good enough or faithful enough or mature enough or close enough to Christ to make it home. We see evidence of the darkness of sin all around us in the hatred and arrogance and pride that are being celebrated in this fallen world. We see the continued rise of wickedness and yet rather than realizing we need to take it more seriously, we simply remain cold, stagnant, and dead so we can avoid having to do anything that may require effort or courage or tenacity.

It’s time to wake up, step out of the dark, address the sins in our lives, set our hearts on serving Christ, and live out the rest of our time here trying as hard as we possibly can to shine His light for all to see. It’s time to get ourselves right with the Lord so that He can truly use us to accomplish even more for His kingdom. It’s time to find our backbone and stand up to the evil that is running wild around us and in us and refuse to be okay with it anymore. It’s time to realize that while darkness is comfy and allows us this illusion of secrecy, what’s done in the dark will be brought into the light and we can either humbly choose to endure that misery now or have that cover ripped away when we’re unprepared later on.

My point is that sin isn’t going anywhere. It’s in this world and it will not simply fade into the past as we move forward into tomorrow. We have a lot of work still to do. Yes, Christ is coming back and when He does, all will be made right. Until that day though, we have plenty to fix and address and try to improve. We have sins in our lives that are still being allowed to linger in the dark recesses of our hearts that we must remedy through repentance. We have brothers and sisters in our homes, our schools, our churches, our workplaces who are lost and still carrying the weight of shame and the fear of punishment who need to hear about the salvation and freedom they’ve been offered.

We have a whole world of people to fight for, but we can’t do it if we’re still held down by our own sins, our own shame, our own fear, or our own doubt. We can’t help change anything if we’re not working to change ourselves. We can’t help others awaken to the reality of sin’s destination if we’re still choosing to ignore that danger ourselves. We can’t fight the good fight if we’ve not yet found the courage to stand up to the loud voices and prideful arrogance in this world. We can’t rightfully call ourselves followers of Christ if we’re living lives that in no way testify to that fact.

Friends, I know I say this all the time, but each day is one day closer to Christ’s return. Are you ready? Are you sure of where you’re going? Are you growing bolder by the day in the faith you claim to have? Are you fighting against the wickedness in your life and in this world? Are you paying attention and trying to do the best you can do? Or are you just coasting along hoping for the best? The truth is that each of us should be living like this is our last day. We should be living as if this is our last chance to tell the world about Jesus. We should be living as if we have no time left to get ourselves straightened out. We should be living as if Jesus is gonna be here this afternoon.

And if we’re not then we should probably ask ourselves just how real our faith is and just how much we actually believe in God’s Word. His light is coming, and it’s coming sooner than any of us could imagine. Are you already standing in it or are you still trying to figure out how to get there? The bottom line is that the days are evil and sin is wreaking more havoc than we could imagine. What are we doing about it? And if we’re not doing anything about it, then I’d say it’s a good time to start doing something about it! Are you running toward His light like you’re running for your life and desperately encouraging everyone else to do the same, or if not, why not? What’s holding you back? Do you see evidence that you’ve been illuminated by Christ, or is there still an awful lot of darkness keeping you from being able to say that?

It’s time to awaken ourselves to the reality of the fight we’re in against the evil in this world. Time to open up our hearts and let Christ shine on us, in us, and through us. It’s time to rise to this occasion we’ve been given to make a difference as so few are willing to do as such. It’s time to realize who we are, who we were made to be, who we have the chance to be, and set our hearts on stepping into that role that God is calling us to live.

What’s keeping you from unleashing that fire inside that brings you to life and forces you out of the shadows into this indescribable opportunity to play a part in the greatest story ever told?

#LeaveNoSoulUntold