As it is in the spirit realm, so it is in the natural realm. In my opinion, they are two sides of the same coin. Here’s what I mean…
We have so many children being born without a dad to properly love, nurture, and reflect God to them. Similarly, we see so many Christians being converted, but the church remains lax in its discipleship efforts. Discipleship takes time. As a result, there’s a definite neglect of any spiritual fathering taking place.
We see so many wars being fought all over the planet, not to mention riots among civilians. This tells me there’s a great spiritual war being fought as well.
We’ve observed the problem of obesity in America, which tells me we are a very carnal nation, feeding our flesh man while neglecting our spirit man.
We devour junk food, paying little attention to what we eat, all the while ingesting garbage through our viewing habits and wondering why our society is so sick. Meanwhile, our spirit man is starving.
We all agree the current drought we are enduring is a major issue. We pray for rain but, truth is, we are very spiritually dry.
There, I said it.
We know about God, but we ignore Him.
We sin when we know better, or blatantly flaunt our rebellion in His face (I just learned my beloved Texas was No. 3 in the nation in divorces!).
We fail to love one another, preferring instead to allow division to come between us as followers of Christ.
We spend a fortune on church buildings and salaries, while we ignore the plight of widows and orphans within our own neighborhoods.
God isn’t punishing us with some kind of Old Testament-style plague through this drought; we are simply reaping as we have sown.
Though many Christians chase after prophetic gatherings, seeking another “word from God,” I have a word straight from heaven’s throne for the church today.
Here it is…ready?
“REPENT!”
I believe today’s prevailing “entitlement culture” is a direct result of our nation’s wimpy desire to resist pain, even the tiniest bit. True, our flesh will always seek after its own comfort, despite the fact that the juiciest fruit grows in the valleys, not the mountaintops.
Delayed gratification is a concept far too foreign to most people. We want it and we want it now! And we expect someone always to bail us out, depriving even ourselves of seeking after and discovering God for ourselves. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and evidence that God’s presence is working through us. We don’t see a great deal of selflessness these days, do we?
Are you concerned about your own comfort more than you are about the development of godly character? How about where your children are concerned? What kind of church are we creating for the world to see and benefit from? As far as what the world perceives, there’s not much difference between them and the rest of society.
Christ-like character or cushy comfort? The Western church needs a revival but, as a dear friend says, we’ve yet to be “’vived!”
Michael Tummillo is a workplace chaplain and founder of The Church @ Work (TCAW). He lives with his wife in Stephenville, Texas.
