O to give you the honor worthy of Your Name! Forgive us Lord, for falling so short in our devotion. Lead us to a fervent display of praise; lead us to declare Your excellence and live by Your light.
An intentional glance around us will discover a surprising amount of devotion. Sadly, I am not referring to the church! Muslim’s are willing to blow themselves to bits, cultists brazenly go door to door spreading their beliefs, Buddhists hide themselves away from the world and deny their every urge. We find business men who sacrifice their marriages and families for success, others sacrifice their health and freedom for drugs and even among environmentalists you find crusaders picketing and petitioning. Atheists grow more and more militaristic in their advancement, psychologists have cornered the market on defining (and prescribing) the mind, homosexuals insist on moral acceptance and women demand the right to kill their own children. All this while the “church,” cozily tucked away in their homes, binge watches Sponge Bob on Netflix.
I’m not here calling us to march against the forces of evil, as if we could overpower them in their own arena. What I am calling our attention to is how lacking our devotion is compared to that of everyone else. The worldling tirelessly strives after the lusts of his heart, members of false religions press deeply into their faiths with great personal sacrifice, while we have relegated the pursuit of our God to one hour a week (and most don’t even do that every week). As is often the case, I think A.W. Tozer has said it best, “No religion in the world would treat its God the way we Christians treat our God. We have the true God, yet we do not treat Him with the respect and dignity that the heathen treat their gods… To know God and then disrespect Him is the epitome of hypocrisy.”
What a total disaster! Some of us are growing fat, others are chasing after being fit but almost all have become spiritually lethargic. We rest in our creature comforts, pursue only our dreams and give but a token recognition to the God of the universe. Willy nilly we chase after whatever tantalizes us for the moment, until it bores us and we are forced to find a new hobby or trinket. Our hearts ache for the lack of meaning in these things, so we fill ourselves with more stuff and entertainment in a kind of spiritual gluttony. James records, “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” (Jam. 5:5)
If the church is a body then our joints are moaning from the stress of the excess weight we are carrying. We have become diabetic from our excessive indulgence in the sweet things of the world and need regular shots of religious platitudes to help us feel better about our condition. What we really need is some exercise and a healthy diet of God Himself. Only when we begin again to ravenously feed upon Him in the word of God will we have the strength to wake up from our tragically long nap. Once our devotion to pursue Him is renewed, our devotion to live for Him will find new life once again as well. The secret to a life of purpose and meaning is devotion. Anyone whose name is worth remembering was devoted to something whether it was an object, a talent, an ideal or a cause. We have the greatest treasure in all of the world as the source of our devotion, Jesus Christ. What’s keeping us from living like that is true? What’s keeping us from pursuing Him with real devotion and declaring His praises to all of the world?
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