When I first became a believer way back in the 70’s, I attended a church that preached grace but practiced works more than they knew. Grace was their aspirational theology, but whether you were counted as part of the faithful in that church was a matter of works. If you were to be counted faithful or a “real Christian” you attended Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. If there was a blizzard raging outside, you braved the streets to demonstrate your commitment. You were there everynight of a “gospel meeting” (revival) and you were front and center to help staff VBS in the summer. There was lots of pressure to do it all and be at everything. If you missed due to weather or if you were just tired and stayed home, you weren’t excommunicated, but you did feel a palpable disappointment in the air from those who had braved the weather and come even thought they were tired. There was definitely a legalism at work…which was unhealthy and unbiblical.

Dial the clock forward to 2020. In America the pendulum has swung from legalism to almost a hyper-grace where if you have prayed the prayer of salvation, show up at church occasionally and serve only when it is ultra-convenient, you are good to go. In fact, church growth experts count a person who only darkens the door of the church once a month as a regular attender. There was a time when Christians came home from vacations on Saturday night so that they could be in church on Sunday. No sports on Wednesday night, because church came first. If you actually were traveling on Sunday, you still found a church to attend where you were visiting. That might lean toward legalism, but a healthy dose of that commitment to meeting with spiritual family and keeping “church nights” open might not be a bad thing because it does indicate priorities. There is certainly more to our faith than church attendance, but our devotion to our spiritual family is a very big thing to God.

I think if we are honest, many American believers attend church only if they have a date open after they have filled in their calendar with hundreds of other things the world offers. Church attendance and involvement seem to have become very optional in the hearts of “the saved.” We have come to a place where it seems we have defined Christianity as taking our best shot at moral living rather than being devoted to Christ and those he died for.

There is a consistent theme throughout the Bible that God must come first and that he is worthy of our sacrifices since he sacrificed his only begotten Son for us. Under the Old Covenant, the best of the flock had to be offered rather than the defective sheep and goats The first fruits of harvest were to be offered as a reminder that God was the source of those crops. God was angry when Israel only offered their leftovers rather than the best they had. David, when needing to offer a sacrifice to end a plague that was killing thousands in Israel, was offered everything he needed for the sacrifice as a gift. David refused the gift but insisted on paying top dollar. He declared, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (2 Sam. 24:26). In other words, if it costs us nothing or very little, it is not a sacrifice.

In the New Testament, the church was marked by devotion to spiritual family. When someone had a need, members of the church gave what they had to meet the need and often sold property to do so (Acts 2:42-47.) That was an expression of love for each other that set them apart from the world. Remember, Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”(Jn. 13:35). When the church had that kind of devotion to one another, it thrived.

Many American believers think they can love God while having little thought for his church. John tells us, “For whoever does not love his brother or sister (in Christ) whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen (1 Jn. 4:19). Jesus is very clear that love must be demonstrated not just proclaimed. If I say I love my family, but spend no time with them and meet none of their needs, I am proclaiming love but not truly loving. The same is true for spiritual family. Devotion costs us something. It is sacrificial. Sacrificing time, resources, service, emotional reserves, etc. for the church when it is extremely inconvenient is a sacrifice acceptable to God.

I know there are many believers who are truly devoted to Christ and his bride. They live sacrificial lives for God every day. But I also know there are many who claim to love God but only give and serve when it is very convenient. Truthfully, there is no sacrifice in that. My hope is that each of us will evaluate our service to the Lord and his church and decide to offer sacrifices to him that actually cost us something because one thing love does for sure…it sacrifices. And love is the measure of everything in the Kingdom.

Blessings in Him.

Questions are important and if you don’t ask the right questions you will miss much of what is most important in life. There are four essential questions in life. How you answer them determines almost everything else.
1. Does God exist?

2. Is God powerful?

3. Is God good?

4. Does God truly love me?

You may want to consider what you really believe regarding those questions.  If God doesn’t exist, all bets are off. You (and everyone else) are on your own in a dangerous world.  If God is powerful but doesn’t love you, you are still on your own and must protect yourself  at all costs…perhaps even from  God. If God is not good all the time, then he may abandon you or even hurt you on any given day on a whim.. And if God loves you but has no power, then you are  gratified but must still protect and provide for yourself.

All of us as Christians would probably answer “Yes” to all four of those questions if they were asked in a group of fellow believers.  But would we be expressing our aspirational beliefs or our actual beliefs?  Aspirational beliefs are those we aspire to have because we know we should believe certain things or want to believe certain things.  Actual beliefs can be different (and often are) and are revealed not by what we say, but how we consistently act.

To say God exists, he is good, he truly loves me, and he is unimaginably powerful answers the most important questions of life: Do I matter? Am I safe? Am I loved? Will I have enough? Can I face the future? To the extent that can honestly say I believe those things, I can live with peace and joy because I believe good is always coming my way, even in troubling circumstances.

Jesus believed that about the Father. I know he did because he slept through storms while others cried out. With small prayers he confidently took a few scraps of bread and fish and fed thousands. He walked on stormy seas and faced hostile leaders with the confidence that God would send a legion of angels to defend Him if requested. He walked confidently through crowds bent on his destruction because he knew that his appointed hour to suffer had not come and the Father would allow no harm to come to him until then. In the midst of a world in war and turmoil, he possessed peace.

But what about us?  How often do we worry day after day about having enough because we are not certain God will provide?  How many of us are “high on control” in our life and relationships as a means of self-protection because we doubt that God will protect us?  How many of us are plagued by anxiety and persistent fears of abandonment?  How many of us believe in our heads that we are children of the King, but believe in our hearts that we are orphans living on our own, left to meet our own needs, and always on the brink of disaster…about to lose whatever is precious to us?

Knowing who we are in Christ and believing it in our hearts is critical in every circumstance.  If we could answer “Yes” to each of those questions at a heart level, then peace would rule our emotions.  Paul prayed that God would give the church at Ephesus the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know God better.  Many of us have aspirational faith in the character and promises of God but our actual faith lags behind. How do we know? Just look at what we do and feel consistently rather than what we say. We need these essential truths revealed to our hearts more than we need them deposited in our heads.  That is the work of the Spirit who reveals truth to God’s people.

Why did Adam and Eve eat forbidden fruit in the Garden? Satan convinced them that God wasn’t always good and didn’t always love them completely. Convinced that God was withholding good things, they took and they ate. How often do we too disregard God’s commands and go our own way in an effort to meet our desire for love, our need for security or our hunger for significance? We do that while we claim to love God and trust him completely. I’m not exempt from failing to fully trust God for all things at all times either. It is the human condition but one for which faith is the cure.

What we need is a daily revelation of God’s presence, his power, his love, and his goodness toward us. Ask the Holy Spirit every day to write “yes” on your heart to each of those three questions so that you can live with the peace and confidence of Jesus. Ask him to give you eyes to see God’s goodness and faithfulness in your life each day. And as Paul prayed, may the Lord give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation today and everyday so that you may know Him better (Eph.1:17).