Romans 1:28-32 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Revelation 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm–neither cold nor hot–I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
This video is bittersweet. Sweet, because it’s an absolute joy to see people reacting with such enthusiasm to receiving God’s word. Bitter, because it’s humbling that some of us (myself included) don’t have that same kind of reaction to Him and His word. I mean seriously, when was the last time we got that excited to open our Bibles?
In America we are very privileged in that we have easy access and exposure to knowledge of Christ. But for some of us, that “overexposure” has caused us to become desensitized and treat Him like any common thing. To use His name in vain, have Him be the punchline of jokes, to not be stirred to action when things going on in our nation’s political scene that are directly contrary to what He taught. In fact, some of us are celebrating and participating in the very things that Jesus died to save us from.
We say that we love Jesus, but do we really if our lives reflect that we actually detest Him? We show that we detest Him when we don’t spend time with Him or take the time to know Him, don’t follow His word, pick and choose which of His commands we want to obey and set aside the others, and selfishly follow our own desires and then try to put God’s stamp of approval on it. Yet we say that we love Him. We say that we know Him!
You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone in America who hasn’t heard of Jesus. But then when you go to different countries abroad and see Christians there that are lambasted by their neighbors and friends, ostracized from their families, imprisoned, and even martyred for their faith, it really makes you question– though we (Americans) may be familiar with Him, how many of us truly know Him? For a lot Christians worldwide, making the decision to follow Christ is literally a life or death choice. Yet here we are, taking Him for granted, worshipping and praying to God whenever it’s convenient for us and our schedules or whenever we face a troublesome situation. That’s not love. That’s contempt for the Creator of the universe by not showing Him the respect that is due Him.
When I went to India and heard stories from Christians there about their responses to Jesus–it really put things into perspective for me. Hearing of a man who was enthralled with God’s word that upon receiving his first Bible, he spent three days straight reading his Bible from cover to cover. He thirsted to know God that much. Then there was a family who were shunned by their neighbors for the faith in Jesus after their son died but they still had the desire to share the gospel with them. And then there were 18 people, who had made the decision to give their lives to Jesus, who joyfully and excitedly walked to the river to be baptized in front of all of their Hindu neighbors, throwing away their idols into the water. This really inspires me to grow in my faith. We cannot be content with just a superficial knowledge of Him. Superficial knowledge does not save. A relationship with Him does.