The church is not an organization or building. The church is the entire body of people around the world who proclaim to be followers and disciples of Jesus. I consider myself part of the church and I have to admit, the church is responsible for the spiritual and moral decline in society.
The church has been called to be the light of the world. However, it has failed to address people who have gender dysphoria or who have same sex attraction with Godly wisdom and love. It has failed to address the narrative on racism in society with Godly wisdom and love.
The church is called to be peacemakers, however, it has failed miserably and have instead become just like everybody else. The church has either disengaged from societal issues or have picked sides and contributed to the polarization in society by antagonizing those who share different viewpoints.
The church is called to maturity and become teachers in our personal circles, however many in the church have not been able to break off from childish ways and have failed to mature other than physically.
One of the problems is that many in the Church doesn’t really believe the God of the Bible actually exists in real-time. Many have become disingenuous with themselves and about their belief in God. They go to church service Sunday after Sunday, but deep down in their hearts, they don’t really believe God answers prayers and can pull off actual supernatural miracles.
In the Bible, God promises people that if they fulfill a particular condition, he will bless them with a specific outcome. God says if you remain in him and his words remain in you, anything you ask will be granted. God also says if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can literally move mountains. If we are honest with ourselves, for most of us when we read these promises, they sound ridiculous and unbelievable. As a result, most of us unconsciously dismiss them, don’t take them seriously, or try to reinterpret them to something more humanly rational. I know because I have seen so many Christians do this, including myself.
If we believe God really exists then how come we have such a hard time taking God’s promises at face value? It's because human beings naturally drift towards unbelief and doubt when it comes to the supernatural since we are so accustomed to the ordinary. This is a major snag for most of us when it comes to having real belief and faith in a supernatural God. Jesus' disciples including the Apostle Peter had doubts even having witnessed so many miracles performed. Human doubt is a snag that has deceived millions of people around the world who lie to themselves about their real beliefs.
What many of us in the church should be doing is taking time to do some self-inventory of our beliefs and be completely honest about our doubts. Second, we should be like the man in the bible that went to God and begged for help in overcoming one’s unbelief. We need to take time to seek God wholeheartedly, put our faith on the line, and actually apply God’s promises in our life.
If the God of the Bible can’t keep the promises he makes with us in real life and provide a way for us to encounter him, how can our hearts and mind really be convinced that he is real? By putting our own faith to the test and giving God a chance to show out, taking him at his word seriously, and applying it, we once and for all allow ourselves to address our doubts and give ourselves a chance to develop real faith.
The other big problem with the church is many of us don’t actually obey Jesus’s commandments. Many of us would take a close look at Jesus’s promises to us that look to meet our wants and needs. However many of us wouldn’t do the same with the commandments Jesus teaches us since they don’t make us feel good or satisfy our selfish desires. Just look at the lifestyle of so many of self-proclaimed Christians whether in person or on social media and compare it to the lifestyle that Jesus and other God-fearing people in the Bible lived.
Many of us in the church today (and I’m guilty at times) don’t consciously even try to obey Jesus' commandments. In fact, a lot of us have taken the words of some of our hypocritical religious leaders as God's commandments over God’s actual words in the Bible. This is a huge problem and a big reason for corruption within the Church.
Obedience to God is the real-life evidence that you are actually a genuine Christian. It is what differentiates and elevates you as a human being to be of impact to the people around you. If we the church don’t turn from our ways and start being obedient to God’s word, society will continue to deteriorate
We the church need to start being radically honest with ourselves. We need to take the promises of God that we supposedly believe seriously, humble ourselves, and seek him with the expectation of really encountering him. Otherwise, we really will be the most ignorant and disillusioned group of people around that much of society already considers us to be.
Absolutely on point.
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