(Further reflections on “Faith-that-dies”—Sunday 10-July-2022)
Did you know that the Devil’s ‘drugstore’ is open 24/7, selling these twin faith-killer, sugar-coated pills: inconvenience and isolation. The former will distance pill-takers smoothly from the Maker. The latter will distance pill-takers conveniently from fellow believers. And the ‘alluring’ part of these twin ‘pills’ is that they are free of charge and have unlimited supply. But little do they know that takers will be paying with their soul/life while living on earth as well as be eternally separated from the Maker.
Humanly speaking, we want a safe religion. We want a religion that serves us well. By well, we mean a system of belief that suits our frame of mind (which is corrupted in nature) and the condition of our heart (which is deceitful in nature). We are prone to select part of the truth that is convenient to us and keep the inconvenient one at bay. Naturally, anything that God’s word speaks to us that is inconvenient, our faith would rather skip or not practice it until we find convenient spots in the ‘loophole’ of God’s word (even if it is non-existent). Once convenient-truth holders avoid inconvenience, isolation will be their visitors and sooner or later become their friends.
When was the last time you told others about Jesus? If it’s a year ago. Perhaps you are waiting for the convenient time. It may or may never come. When (not if) conflicts happen (church/home/office), do you try to talk them through, practice forgiveness, and seek reconciliation? Or you tend to avoid it all altogether, including not talking to the one you had conflict with? Isolation tends to be the natural choice. Hurt people tend to isolate themselves from either small groups meeting or even Sunday gathering. Both isolation and inconvenience suffocate, kill, and slowly bring death to faith. If the faith we have in the Lord is not practiced on daily/weekly basis, then we might still have faith from what the Lord taught us through His Word but a ‘faith-that-dies’ one.
Think about two of Jesus’ commandments: “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:29-31).” Practicing these two will take a lifetime. And these cannot be practiced in isolation or convenience. First, we can’t be one with others in the Body of Christ—the local church if we do not love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Most people pay attention to the first three areas (heart, soul, mind), but somehow neglect the last part, strength. They often find themselves saying something like this, “I want to worship the Lord on Sunday or join small groups, but I’m tired (or busy)….and if they are honest and truthful, they know they likely spend all their strength on something else during the week as well as on Saturday night. It can be anything from tinkering social media to ‘tindering’ someone whom they hope the loneliness of their soul can be fixed; or from binge-watching movies or attending (mild or wild) parties in the name of social connection or networking. The list is endless in its excuses. It is said somewhere that there will be no convenient time for those who are fully equipped with (sound or lame) excuses.
Second, loving our neighbor as ourselves requires fellowship and ‘rubbing each other’s shoulders’ (healthy or unhealthy conflicts) is part of being in Jesus’ Body—the local church. If our right arm does not love our left one, our physical body will be in a big trouble. The same with Christ’s Body when (not if) members of the Body do not love one another. Just a strong reminder, love does not mean ignoring sins or wrong doing, but bringing it to light, dealing it grace and truth, and carrying out the full function of Scriptures (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16). So you see, it’s more comfortable and convenient when we are in isolation as we don’t need to mess up with others as we also don’t want to be messed up. Keeping a status quo is the name of the game of those who took the "twin-pills" in the Devil’s drugstore.
Another example, during the lock down period, livestream service is essential for the life of the church and faith-building block and connection on Sunday. It was and still is a blessing for our church, especially those who travelled or fell sick. However, that same ‘blessing’ can become a ’toxin’ to faith-weakening path, especially for those whose faith and truth are convenience-based. Isolation will be the natural outcome and fellowship will be absent in one’s faith. Consequently, they still may have faith, but the ‘faith-that-dies’ one, for it seeks convenience and reaps isolation and believe “I and Jesus’ gospel, which possibly or quietly or subconsciously says, “I will worship, believe, trust, follow, and practice your word when it’s convenient. And if anyone, even the pastor, dares to say anything about this. I will leave church and find a better one that can offer this to me.” When this happens, the Devil’s drugstore is in good business.
Lord, have mercy on us. May inconvenience not stop us from drawing close to you and Christ’s Body. May none of us ‘sell’ ’fellowship’ and ‘buy’ isolation. May the truth we believe in be not convenience-based. May the faith we have in Jesus be not faith-that-dies.
Amen.
—
Pastor Lap
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