“Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which makes a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.’” Mark 12: 41-44.
What is really pleasing to God? Is it the rituals that a church congregation
practices in worshiping each Sunday or Sabbath?
Is it the music that is sung by a choir or played by a worship band
before, during, and after the service?
Is it the offering that is taken?
Is it the sermon that has been written for a specific topic preached by
a seminary prepared pastor?
No. It isn’t one of
these rituals. Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival in Wyoming to
spread the truth of the Word
of God, bring back God, and to fix the brokenness of Christianity. Christianity
is indeed broken. Christians
are treating faith
as a buffet,
caring for others as a pick
and choose
menu, treating the Holy
Bible as if it is a book of suggested
topics for life and choosing
which passages to follow instead of taking it all in. Pastor
John Collins calls it out like it is:
the Bible
was written by people
who were inspired to write it by God
Himself. It isn’t fabricated, it
isn’t randomly written. The Bible
ties everything together, Old
to New Testaments. What Jesus
Christ taught, He meant. He meant it when He said “Love your neighbor as
yourself, do to others as you would have done to you.” It wasn’t new and those
were God’s
words from the Old
Testament. Jesus spoke them and taught by action. That does not mean that you ignore
the guy struggling to find a safe
place to sleep because he lost
his home and can’t
get work but turn around
and help out the
other guy who shows up asking
for money. It does not mean that you care for the
person sitting next
to you in the pew but
not the woman who is drinking
to kill shakes at 9:00 am. It doesn’t mean sing
in the choir
on Sunday,
then Wednesday go into
the porn store. It means that Christians
act like Christians
EVERY day, ALL the time, not just when it suits to do so. Christians
are not supposed to act like hypocrites,
doing one thing and saying another.
Pastor John Collins puts it all quite plainly:
You cannot
only be a Christian
when things are going good
in your life and you cannot only
be a Christian
towards those whom you like and approve of. The
whole point of being a Christian is to
be Christ-like
and believe me, Jesus was
kind to those
whom He knew to be sinners
and those whom He would not approve
of, which is the reason that
He was sent to earth, to
save those who were lost. Jesus
gave all that
He had down to His last
breath, for us.
Many people
take their own lives
and situations too seriously
and become defensive
and ignore those who are around
them. Many people justify
their self-absorption by claiming tragedy, turmoil,
victimhood and obligations.
You cannot justify
acting nasty or
dismissive to others
because you are not
in a comfortable
situation or in a place
of stability.
God tests you on how you behave under pressure, under stress
and in the tough
situations. God tests
you all of the time
and if you really
are interested in
how you are doing,
just go and read the Sermon
on the Mount and see how you measure
up.
The words
of Christ when He spoke
are not to be dismissed,
they are to be obeyed
and that is how you will be tested. God
doesn’t want
you to wait
until you are happy and financially
stable to help another.
It is your suffering that makes you able to have compassion and it
is your
willingness to put another before yourself that makes
you rich.
Be willing
to be a
follower of Christ
when no one is looking
and be willing to open yourself up
to another
when they
are in need.
Not everyone
needs money as charity. There are so many
lonely people
in this world that need
love and faith. Be willing
to offer both freely
because God knows that Jesus
always will.
“Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” Matthew 6:2”
It’s time for Christians, or those who
call themselves Christians to take a good long look at themselves and how they
portray themselves to others. People ARE
watching. People who have not been
inside a church for years do that because they don’t feel comfortable with the
double message that is so often delivered by those inside the church to those
outside the church. What little does it
take to offer yourself in truth, in kindness, and not be judgmental? Don’t offer your hand in kindness and
helpfulness then turn it over to criticize and withdraw from someone. Jesus
Christ came to save us all, He didn’t pick and choose to serve us from a buffet
of lesser sins. A sin is a sin in the
eyes of God, none greater, none lesser. It’s time for Christians to stand up
and take a fresh look at how they are measuring up in God’s eyes because that
is Who really matters, not the eyes of fellow church goers. Are we living a biblically correct life as a
Christian? Are we measuring ourselves
against the book that was given to us for that purpose? We are all sinners, every one of us, pastors
and congregations alike. We all need to
get it right to get to heaven, to get back to God and to bring back God to
others. We have to change how we are
toward others in order to save ourselves.
It’s time to come back to the Cross.
