"Oh the water's gonna come down Noah... you better get in the boat!"
Jesus told us that at his return things would be going on just as they always have... we'd be doing all the usual things... going out to eat, getting married. Maybe we'll be mowing the grass, or if it happens in winter, be out Christmas shopping. He told us that in Noah's day the people knew nothing about what would happen up to the day Noah entered the Ark, and then the flood came and took them all away! More here.
But maybe the song that needed most to be written.
When I got saved I was the most excited person on the planet! Man, I'd just found Jesus. Finally it all made sense, HE was the answer to so many questions, HE was the meaning to life! Everything had changed in my world. Jesus was IT!
My attitude was "everything for Jesus"! I ate, slept, and breathed Jesus! Ask my family, ask my friends. I wanted the whole world to know, and find what I'd found. Certainly the church would share my zeal, right? I wish it had been that way, but that's not what I found. I found the church in a rut, and overall it seemed not to care about it either.
That has always bothered me! And that's why I wrote this song. I don't want to get to the end of my life never having at least tried to do something about it. This is supposed to be about Jesus! We're supposed to have the "good news" ...the best message that has ever come to this planet. How can we be so lukewarm?
The song tells my experience. I was the kid who thought about God when I was in grade school. Who carried a tiny bible in my back pocket to Jr. High. Who searched through astrology and the occult to find the spiritual; who also looked for God in churches. Who was pointed by a church to psychology when I came asking questions... who was never told the simple truth about Jesus, and that I must be born again!
When will we wake up? The sad truth is, when I finally did become a Christian, there was often no more life inside the church then there was outside of it! Are we really doing anyone a favor by not owning up to that? I'm not throwing stones, I'm pleading.
How do you become a Prodigal son or daughter? It's not that hard really; all you have to do is walk away from the Father's love...
Sometimes we just walk away and everyone knows it; we go back to the pigpen of the world and it's obvious to everyone. Sometimes it happens like erosion; we don't even know how we got where we are. We're still "talkin' the talk", going to church, smiling our Christian smile... but if we just stop to think about it, there's nothing inside; it's not real anymore. You've become a prodigal.
Have you ever noticed how many parables Jesus told about forgiveness, mercy and judging others? If I’m honest, they’re all pretty much aimed at getting me off my high horse so I’ll love others like He loved me!
He tells one parable about being forgiven a HUGE debt, but us being unwilling to forgive a LITTLE one. He talks about us taking the plank out of our own eye, before we try to take a speck out of someone else’s. I mean think about it… He forgives us all our sin and we turn around and act like the judge of the world! It’s crazy, but we do that!
How do I somehow forget that to be a Christian means I’m basically admitting to God and the whole world that I’m a sinner in need of forgiveness? I’m pretty much falling at His feet daily saying, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” Isn’t it more than a little strange then that I could turn around and start pointing the finger at someone else? I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t save me so I could be the judge of the world!
Ekklēsia Temperature. The church: cold, lukewarm, hot?
Take a listen to my song "Nice Little Church" and read posts about why I wrote it. If Jesus dislikes His church being lukewarm, is it strange that His followers would feel the same?
Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Heaven and Hell... Do you know where you'll spend eternity? The bible says, "Today is the day of God's favor!" Find out what you need to know about eternal life.
