The economic crisis in America continues to take toll on the lives of many individuals. Apart from the numbers of individuals that are losing jobs, losing retirement accounts, and other assets, now it seems that many are losing hope. In the past week we have learned about a father who killed his wife and children before taking his own life. We have witnessed large layoffs and watched as the number of foreclosures has increased.
Discouragement is fast becoming a killer. A killer that many of us will encounter over the next year. However, it only becomes the killer when it leads to apathy and then hopelessness. When a person loses hope, spiritual death follows and physical comes quickly. I list spiritual death ahead of physical death simply because it is at this point that the individual loses all sense of worth and value. Sadly, life without the material is not worth living or so it seems. Here lies the burden for the Church.
For so long the Church has judged people creating a mistrust for organized religion. The Church, both Protestant and Catholic, has turned people away from the One who can transform lives through our own petty arguing and hypocrisey. Jesus commanded that we should love one another, but we have decided that we will love only if they are like us (the church). Denominationalism has become a division in our faith journey that only makes the Body of Christ weak. We have been so caught up in the practice of sacraments, freedom vs. determinism, and other issues that we have forgotten to love and be the light in the world.
The message of Jesus Christ is one that world longs for in it’s true form. However, when the Church can not disagree without causing strife, and squelching the Spirit our faith credibility suffers. It is time for the Church to become the Body of Christ as God intended. It is time that as Christians we unite against the world, speaking boldly for Jesus. It is time that we stood up to the politicos, the advocacy groups, and those who are crying for inclusiveness. I can be tolerant and loving of an individual but still hold them accountable for the life they live. Intolerance is not hatred as so many claim. It is accountability focused on the individual and done with love. Sadly, what I have found is that Christians decide not to stand for anything because they don’t know what they stand for. It is easier to sit on the fence. Fence sitting leads to frustration. Frustation leads to discouragement. Discouragement leads to Apathy…. Do you see where the church is headed.
Today, the Church by not taking a stand is caught in Apathy. Because we are not willing to unite and stand for something, people have given up on the church. By not standing for justice, morality, and God’s Word the church has contributed to the hopelessness that many Americans are now experiencing. In other words, but not standing on the Word of God and refusing to waiver from God’s Word the Church has contributed to the soul murder of a nation. We have contributed to the death of many under the pervue of institutionalism.
One day the Church will stand before God in judgment. God has made it very clear in His Word that not everyone will spend eternity with Him. Therefore, why is inclusiveness so important to the Church? The Church is not a social group, it is journey where the head is Christ and the Church is the body. When the Body seperates itself from the teachings of the Head, the body will die. Shouldn’t the Church be more concerned with the Truth as written and spoken. Just a thought.
