Church, Rise Up

My mom made a comment today that stuck with me. In response to the craziness gripping America (and the world for that matter), she posted a comment to her Facebook page that said something to the effect of the silent majority needing to wake up because enough is enough. While I don't disagree, her sentiments have echoed something that the Lord has been impressing upon me for awhile now - before COVID-19, George Floyd, the protesting and riots, and where we are currently as a nation. Before all that, it's become increasingly obvious that God may not be calling for the silent majority to wake up, but rather His church to rise up.

According to the American Psychological Association 40 to 50 percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce, suicide accounts for 2% of all deaths, over 700,000 youths under the age of 18 are behind bars (ojjdp.gov), and 33.9% of teens have experimented with illicit drugs (in 2019, statista.com). If these numbers (among so many others) don't make you cringe, get this: The US has the largest Christian population in the world, with approximately 167 million professing Christians (wikipedia.org). Let me spell that out in case you didn't catch it the first time...ONE. HUNDRED. AND. SIXTY. SEVEN. MILLION. people claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Are you scratching your head yet? Yeah, me too.

So, how is it that America has such staggering statistics in the doom and gloom department, yet an overwhelming amount of people claim they are Christians? Something isn't adding up, and it's time for the church (the four walled buildings and the collective body of believers) to lose the complacency and rise to the occasion. There is a battle raging, and it has been ever since man was first deceived over 6,000 years ago in a garden. We are just as deceived then as we are now - perhaps worse. To think our enemy is wrapped in flesh and blood - being a person of color, a white person, the president of the United States, a police officer, a protester, a journalist, the guy who cut you off in traffic, the woman who called you a mean name on social media, heck...anyone - we are wrong. As the church, it's imperative that we recognize this. The problem isn't "systemic racism". It's not prejudices. It's not greed, pride, lust, envy, etc. The problem is sin, and the truth is we are all equally worthless without Jesus Christ.

If more American churches (four walled buildings) cared more about the problem and the only solution available than they did about placating congregations with fun-filled, easy-to- hear messages, we may have less people burning down entire cities and more people on fire with the Spirit of the Living God. If generations of men (pastors) entrusted BY GOD to shepherd people paid more attention to what God thought than what culture thought, we'd see a mass revival of people leaving dormant faith and occupying a fire filled faith. Unfortunately, we've let culture dictate our calling, we've replaced the quality of the Christian with quantity of Christians in our buildings, and in an effort to grow and expand - we've allowed comfort to substitute conviction. If a few of the 167 million Christians in America today would turn to God, open the only book that matters, and *try* to obey it, I'd venture to say that America (and the world) might look a little different than it does right now. Our country would be healed. If a few of us stopped loving and heeding the advice of our self-obsessed society and focused more on loving God, we could effectively love others. If instead of tuning into social media, the news, and worthless entertainment in order to satisfy our desires, and tuned into God's will for our lives - we would find the type of conviction that leads to repentance. We would no longer be conformed to the world or the ways of it, but we would be transformed.

Church, RISE UP.

Pastors, stop playing patty-cakes with the gospel of Jesus Christ and DO what you're called to do - no matter the price.

People claiming to be a disciple of Jesus, turn away from the world and turn to God. You are in the world, but you are not of the world. Society WILL hate you. Culture WILL ridicule you. Your treasure isn't here, it never has been! The glory and hope that lies ahead of you is so much more than the here and now. Change your perspective and repent. You're still breathing because God isn't finished with you.

The Bible I read lays it out pretty simple: Love God and love others. Loving others isn't telling them what they want to hear because the truth is, we are perishing fast. All lives are equally worthless without the blood of Jesus. He made the way, and He is the only answer to the problem facing America today. Confess and believe that Jesus is Lord. Remove yourself from the position of Lordship over your life, and allow Jesus to take over. Reflect Him to a watching world in everything you say and in everything you do. Teach others to obey what He's told you through His word. Be His bride. Be the church.

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:14 NIV).

Church, be one of the few. RISE UP.