Good morning and happy Saturday. I hope that you had a good week, and you enjoyed the rain showers throughout last night.
The other day I was stopped at a red light and waiting patiently for it to turn green. As I sat there expending part of my life to enable the orderly flow of traffic, I passed the time by looking around. I noticed that one house on the corner had a statue of Mary on their front porch. Having watched NCIS, CSI and other police dramas on TV, I surveyed the scene and reached a conclusion – the family that lives there is probably Catholic. Of course, I grew up Catholic and we had one of those too, so that might have played a part in my brilliant deduction. Likely, wanting to display a symbol of their faith and their admiration for Mary, they purchased a concrete statue at the local nursery or home improvement megastore and proudly put it out for all to see. It may have even been a reminder to themselves to remember what they believe. However, as I pondered this concrete image with her arms extended out, beckoning all to come, I couldn’t help but notice something rather odd. Apparently, it was trash day because the people in the house had tossed two kitchen bags of trash onto the front porch. And where were they placed? Directly at the ends of Mary’s outstretched arms. So much for reverence, I guess. Sadly, that happens a lot with things that we once held dear. For a while, the Bible, church, even Jesus, may hold a very special place in our lives. Then, somewhere along the way, we lose interest, or they just become less important to us. The next thing you know, your Bible is being used to hold up the corner of a couch and the only time you use the name Jesus is when watching sports. Church is just something you used to go to. Who has time for that when there are so many other things vying for our time?
This reminds of what the Bible tells us in Hebrews 2:1. It says, “For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.” Hebrews 10:24-25 exhorts us in this way, “24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” In 12:1-3, we read, “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecterof our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.” Of course, this was written initially to a group of Christians that were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus and there was pressure for them to return to Judaism or, at the very least, not differentiate themselves so much with their beliefs. Although persecution is increasing in the US, for the most of us it hasn’t become threats of violence. For now, it is the political correctness, the dramatically increased restriction on free speech as it relates to Biblical Christianity, and the forced acceptance of many aspects of the unmoral social agenda that is consuming our nation. That may cause some to become less passionate about their faith as they make choices about what they want to believe. Mostly, people just drift away because they lose focus, get bored, or find other things that capture their attention. As the song says, “It’s a slow fade…”
Let me encourage you this morning, continue to pursue your relationship with Jesus. Seek to grow toward maturity. As the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:17-18, “Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”
From our neighborhoods to the nations,
Pastor Larry
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