Yet
I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. — Revelation
2:4
Martie and I were attending church
yesterday. The service was great. The pastor was spot on with his sermon. That
is when I noticed a woman – older than 60 – surfing the web on her phone,
looking at groceries, perhaps making a shopping list for Sunday dinner. Now there could be any number of reasons why
she was doing that – dementia comes to mind. Or it may have been that she was
just not interested in the sermon. I
most often see that behavior with teenagers who most probably are being made to
sit with their parents and they want the world to know that they could care
less. A saying I have used very often is
“You can make me do it, but you can’t make me like it!”
My point is that the woman reminded me of the
times when I was bored with a Sunday morning service. The problem was not really the service, it
was my heart. Cell phone with access to
the outside world are an anathema (curse) when they are carried into a worship
service. They enable our ADD and tempt
our attention to focus on something other than the reason we are gathered
together. I am not railing against technology. I am attempting to describe a
problem in the Church – the Body of Christ.
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus said this to the
Church of Ephesus:
“I
know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot
tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but
are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured
hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you:
You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” – Revelation 2:2-5
There have been times when my heart has grown
cold toward the routines of my faith; reading the Word, prayer, worship. I may
not have been surfing the web on my phone, but my mind has wandered and
although my body was physically in the pew, my mind and heart were in another
place. That is an indication of a
spiritual struggle.
When I have spoken in churches in the U.S., very
often I am given the admonition not to go past 12:00 noon. My conclusion is
that at 11:45, many people that attend church are more concerned with the meat
in the oven at home than the meat of the Word being served from the pulpit. Their minds and hearts have already shifted
to what is going to happen next. We are willing to give God a couple of hours,
but the rest of the time is ours. It is
like offering a blemished sacrifice, thinking that it will just have to do.
One thing I know – if I struggle with this, then
it is common to man. The solution is
simple but oh so difficult. Jesus said, “Repent.”
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