Romans 12.1-2a {Message}
This past Monday evening my family and I invited ourselves for dinner at our Pastor’s house. This usually is a great time because we have the opportunity to spend some quality time with our Pastor and his wife while our kids play together. To me, it’s a win-win!
This evening was nothing but the usual family meal and play time. My son decided to throw up the contents of his stomach all over our Pastor’s kitchen tile. While my Pastor grabbed the mop bucket his wife started removing the vomit soaked clothes from my son and my wife started washing the vomit from her hands (why she tries to catch the vomit baffles me every time). I immediately started covering my mouth trying to keep my food down; if I smell vomit you can bet that I’m next to blow! My wife and I were terribly embarrassed; all we could do was apologize over and over again.
The one thing I learned through this whole ordeal is that life can get really messy. One minute everything can be going just as you planned and the next minute you’re searching for the mop bucket. It’s in these messy moments that we have the opportunity to flex our faith.
My Pastor and I reflected on the too long list of people that have left the church and their faith in Christ because of an unexpected messy moment. Some of our closest friends and family members have experienced some difficult situations inside and outside of the church. Unfortunately, in the midst of adversity we tend to take our eyes off of Christ and fix them upon our problems.In the first few verses of Romans 12 Paul instructs us to give every aspect of our lives to God, “our sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life.” I think too many Christians treat their faith in Christ like a hobby instead of a lifestyle. This is not the life that Christ designed for us to live.
If the foundation of our faith was built solely on our relationship with Christ the messes in life would not shake us. Instead some are consumed with people, problems, and church politics; only to discover that people will let us down, our problems are too big for us to handle, and our church isn’t perfect. This weakened faith causes some to begin a cycle of church hopping or leaving their faith in Christ all together.
Pastor, evangelist, author, and spiritual mentor; A.W. Tozer, expressed this condition perfectly when he said, "How utterly terrible is the current idea that Christians can serve God at their own convenience." The shelter of the Cross is the only suitable refuge from the storms of life. Situational faith is no faith at all; the Cross is one size fits all.
