Luke 3:14

Luke 3:14

“Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

The message of the gospel demands a response that affects every part of who we are. How is it that being raised going to church has created a cold, religion based group of “Christians?” We act as though going to church once or twice a week is enough to have a rich relationship with Jesus. The mentality of Sunday morning Christianity has saturated the way we do everything from devo time to washing the dishes after dinner. We act as if our heavenly Father is a vending machine of blessings, just begging us to allow Him to give us a new job, car, or house or even certain spiritual gifts that we think we need. We act as if Jesus is a backseat driver instead of the one who made the car and is the only one who actually knows how to drive it. We have adopted this false theology that Jesus is along for the ride wherever we take Him when in reality that is never the way it was meant to be. So where did the church get it wrong? Should we sing Psalms for worship on Sunday mornings? I mean, David was called a man after God’s own heart and that’s what he sang so maybe that’s the magic solution. Or maybe everyone should be in one sanctuary together because if the message given is good enough for the adults its good enough for the children, none of that diluted nonsense they teach children in Sunday school! Perhaps the pastor should wear jeans and a button down so he’s more relatable to the middle class than if he were to wear a full suit and tie. Oh I know, the worship leader should probably always fit the mold of being a young hipster who wears skinny jeans. Or perhaps the scriptures being taught on should be projected onto a screen, no, wait, that would encourage people to leave their bibles at home… How, then, will they know where the book of Ecclesiastes is?!  

The church has stopped asking “and what shall we do?” We have given up asking the question that leads to actual solutions and have instead started asking “and what will they do?” I understand that not everyone is called to adopt, but for the sake of using an example from my own life I’m going to use this. For 6 years now my family has looked different than most. When we go out to dinner we get weird looks, questions, and comments. The question we rarely get, though, is “and what shall we do?” The church as a whole does not ask this question nearly enough when their eyes are opened to what goes on every day in their own backyards. You may not be called to adopt, but I can assure you that you are called to do something. Psalm 10:14 tells us that God is the “helper of the fatherless” and as His hands and feet our job is clear, we are to love those who are helpless. And yet the foster care system is still overrun with children who no one will call their own. The church is big enough, enough people know what Jesus teaches, but not enough people ask the right question. We turn our eyes away, say a prayer that the ambiguous someone will love these children, and move on with our lives. The tragedy of this lack of action in our own life is not something we should stand for. I encourage you to ask the question that leads to a necessary action.