This topic is not easy to bring up. This topic is hard, and will strike heartstrings of conviction.
While being on the race, the Lord has given me eyes to see ways I have been complacent in my walk with the Lord, and frankly, how most Christians in the West are lukewarm and complacent in their faith.
So easily can a person’s walk with the Father become distant, religious, and engulfed in ulterior motives.
Most times, this reality is unknown. When looking back at my life before being on the race, I found myself attending church, catching up with people, then going home. Many of the “normal Christian practices” I was doing, I found myself doing out of obligation.
For many in the United States, going to Church or being plugged into a small group is all that encompasses their walk with God. A sermon, worship, and small talk on Sunday’s has been ingrained in our minds we think that is what we need to do to “be there” with the Lord, so that’s what we do.
Since being on the race, I haven’t been able to attend a church every week, and I have grown more in three months without influence from a church than I have in my whole life. Why? Because the fog of religion and routine has been cleared from my eyes, and I’ve been given a space to intentionally seek after the Father.
God wants so much more for us than worship, a sermon, and small talk. He wants us. He wants our hearts.
Westernized Christianity has transitioned into routine and obligation which has produced a lukewarm culture. And man it is so easy to fall into being lukewarm.
Author and pastor Francis Chan writes this about a lukewarm Christian-
* Lukewarm people attend church regularly. It’s what “good Christians” do.
* Lukewarm people give money to charity/church as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.
* Lukewarm people choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict.
* Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they only want to be saved from the penalty of their sin.
* Lukewarm people are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act.
* Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends.
* Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and His is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a second of their time, money, and their thoughts, but He isn’t allowed to control their lives.
* Lukewarm people will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give.
* Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven.
* Lukewarm people are thankful for their luxuries and comforts, and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor.
* Lukewarm people do whatever is necessary to keep themselves from feeling too guilty.
* Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control.
* Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they do not have to.
This is not the Father’s heart for His beloved people.
He wants everything. Inside and outside of church.
He wants devotion.
He wants discipline.
He wants your time.
He wants to speak life over you.
He wants intimacy with you.
True intimacy.
He wants to show you what true intimacy looks like.
He wants to show you what life as a daughter or son looks like.
He wants you to have fullness of joy. Not just a short lived feeling of content that church on Sunday brings.
Joy.
To the fullest.
Fire.
Renewal.
There is so much more.
He is so much more.
No matter how old you are, no matter how many years you’ve been a Christian, there’s always more. The Father always has so much more for you. So seek Him.
True intimacy with the Father takes more than church on Sunday’s, it takes more than housechurch, it takes more than being a “good person”. He seeks you out always, and you must intentionally seek Him. Sit with Him and receive what He has for you daily. It takes discipline and drive to seek His heart earnestly.
If you find right now, that you are beating yourself up and questioning the way you’ve been walking out your faith, that’s ok. That’s conviction from the Holy Spirit. However, do not feel guilty and ashamed. That is not from the Father, and that is not your portion. Give yourself grace because guess what? YOU ARE HUMAN! Let this conviction drive you to seek His heart for you. Take a minute and give God space to shower you in the truth of who He says you are.
You are forgiven.
You have abundant Grace.
You are righteous.
Blameless.
Walk in those identities because that is how the Father sees you.
That is your inheritance.
But do not continue to walk in complacency. Intentionally seek greater intimacy with the Father because He wants you desperately.
