HAVE WE FORGOTTEN WHOSE WE ARE...

...and, for that matter, what we are about?

America is experiencing a flawed and domesticated religion which does its best to function under the famed umbrella; Christianity.  Society has gone numb.  Churches have as well.  The contagioned neglectfulness of Whose we are and what we are about is taking a toll; a very hefty toll.

Ours is a scrambled society living from one significant distraction to another.  Focus has been obliterated by both heartbreak and sheer pleasure.  Almost as if completely unaware, the church has lost the Son of God.  Organizational effectiveness is popular King.  Church growth is the respected call.

And Jesus?  It's as if that nowadays that's the name which must be used to close out prayers in order that they would be authorized through the corridors of Heaven.

So believers like me must consider a stark challenge before us.  Will we pursue the robust life Jesus intends that his followers experience?  Or, will we fit acceptably into a distractive form of religion that even unbelievers can sense is going nowhere?

What shall we do about it?  This is a significant question worth probing.  I can only offer one weak man's opinion.

• Read the Word of God.  Read Matthew if you don't know where to begin.  Don't try to understand it, but rather simply watch Jesus act and interact with community.
• Pray.  This is a tough assignment; even for the most ardent followers.  The reason prayer is one of the hardest things to actually do is because it is so high on the list of Kingdom effectiveness.  Many complain.  Few pray.
• Make a shift from human reason to godly faith.  This, again, is not that simple because we would rather go by what we can see than what we can imagine.  The former appears sensible.  The latter is regarded as foolish.  Read I Corinthians chapters 1 and 2. 

May we join forces to perpetually remind us that the thread of the Cross is what leads all to amazing victory.  Life has its challenges which can overwhelm.  Friends are giving up.  They can't sort this maze of distraction.  We must and can set aside these dead-end avenues of promising life in order to intentionally keep on the Higher Calling road that leads to everlasting and authentic hope.