Be a true Christian, not a ‘churchian’

A farmer and his wife of 20 years are traveling down the highway. The wife turns to her husband and says, “Do you remember the days when we used to snuggle when we were traveling”?

“Yes,” he says.

“Do you remember the romance and how we loved each other back then?”

Again the farmer responds “yes.”

“Do you remember how we would whisper in each others’ ears our deepest desires and even got so carried away we had to stop that one time?”

Again with a sorrowful glance at his wife the farmer answers “yes.”

In a quiet voice the wife says, “I wonder what happened to those days. We seem to have grown so far apart.”

With an even more sorrowful look, the farmer replies in a shaky voice, “I don’t know, either. I’ve been right here for 20 years.”

The Christmas season is again upon us and many will make one of their two annual pilgrimages to attend the church service of their choice. Many of those same people will wonder why God doesn’t seem to listen to their prays. They wonder where has God gone? What happened to the blessings God has given our country, state and in their personnel lives?

Many remember the excitement they felt when they were first born again and how they would read the Bible and listen to the minster each Sunday; how they seemed to have great ideas and even the worst storms in their lives seemed to pass in peace.

Then something changed — like the farmer’s wife, they began to move away from their faith. Slowly, other things in life became more important. Slowly over time, they separated themselves from their relationships with the Lord, and the result was spiritual malnutrition. They have starved their relationships with the Lord to the point of nonexistence.

Many Christians can quote statistics chapter and verse about their favorite football teams, all the activities of their favorite celebrities, yet cannot quote a single Bible verse. In short, they have a god, but they’ve replaced the God of Heaven with a god of this world. Unfortunately, what they fail to realize is that God is still driving down the road. Whether we like it or not, he is still in the driver’s seat. He waits patiently for us to decide what kind of a relationship we want to have with him.

Most people will continue to separate themselves from the presence of the Lord across the seat and wonder where the relationship went. Most Christians don’t realize that being a Christian is not just attending services, it also means reading the Bible and living by it. I have had numerous people say they are Christians, and then watched them lie and cheat.

These people are best described as “churchians.” They attend services every time the door of the church is open, but fail in their walk as Christians. Being born again means creating a new Christ-centered life. The old life is dead and gone, but all too often, like the story of Lot’s wife, they look back on what they left behind and eventually go back to that lifestyle, whether it is drugs, excessive alcohol or a multitude of other “more important” activities.

Like the farmer’s wife, they have slid across the seat and away for the driver, the one that should be loved the most. I have said in the past and will continue to state who simply attending church services does not, and will not, make a person a Christian. There are many churchians. Being a Christian is the whole package — worship, Bible reading, living the word and sharing that belief with others.

I often wonder how many people would stay with their spouses if their spouses only talked to them when there was a major problem or only spent time with them twice a year during a holiday? A great start is wiping off that dusty Bible and reading it. Like John, lean back on Jesus’ breast and there you will find comfort in life’s trials and tribulations. Attend services regularly here and your faith will be nurtured, fed and reinforced. Pray and let God know that we have concerns and needs we know he can fulfill. Most of all, live what the Bible teaches, because without this element the rest is in vain. God will lead you back to the relationship, peace and comfort of his word will whisper in your ear.

Obtaining a Bible that has a key word cross-reference back to the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic is a considerable help in discerning exactly what the Bible says and means in the original language and power. All of the recent translations soften what the original language of the Bible states.

A woman recently said to me, “I have seen so ministers that are only interested in their agendas that I don’t trust any of them anymore. That is why I don’t attended services.”

If a person knows the Bible, there can be many questions. A simple method for discerning whose agenda the minster is teaching is to ask questions. When they answer the question it should include a Bible verse in context. Make a mental note of the Bible reference and then check it for yourself. A simple statement that starts with “I believe the Bible says” without a Bible reference is an indication of their agenda, not the Bible’s.

I always like to leave the reader with a closing question. Can you whisper a prayer that God will hear, or have you moved so far away from God that you have to shout out in panic? Have sports, drugs or other activities preempted the time you spend with God? Just where do you sit in your relationship with Jesus? If you were God, would you be happy with your relationship with him?

Mike Blodgett is chaplain at Lighthouse Chapel. Contact him at 373-5866 or email lighthouse_chapelak@yahoo.com.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.