[From Pastor Milton Gordon]How can you know for sure? Check out the following symptoms:
- Lack of thought and meditation.
- Legalism.
- Lack of heartfelt, fervent prayer.
- Leaders who do not preach the cross of Christ with power.
- Little mourning for sin in the midst of the church.
- Lack of a growing spiritual capacity to embrace the love of God.
- Lyrical content lacking focus on Christ and the cross in worship.
2 comments:
1. Lack of thought and meditation.—The mind is the greatest “non-spiritual” gift of God, unfortunately in the entertain “me” generation the brain gets little to no exercise.
2. Legalism.—People need to be very careful. By the same measure of grace we show others, God will in kind give us that same measure of grace. In Galatians we are warned if we chose to be justified by one point of the law; then we will be measured against the entire law!
3. Lack of heartfelt, fervent prayer.—Prayer is communication with God, and this includes listening. We need to ask God to open our ears.
4. Leaders who do not preach the cross of Christ with power.—It all revolves around the cross; what else is there to say?
5. Little mourning for sin in the midst of the church.—We call them mistakes, God calls them sins. Sin is simply missing the mark that God has set for us. That is why we so desperately need Christ. Self-sufficiency is a good pathway to destruction.
6. Lack of a growing spiritual capacity to embrace the love of God.—His love is unconditional. If we place any condition at any time to love others, then we are no better than the infidel. A lot of people will say they love, but when their actions or proclamation attach a caveat, then they fool themselves for the do not love unconditionally and Godly love can only be unconditional!
7. Lyrical content lacking focus on Christ and the cross in worship.—If He is lifted up, people will be drawn to Him. It is not about me, it is not about you; it is about Him!!! Any worship that does not point to Him is not true worship. Too many “worship” songs are about us.
Apathy will leave a congregation thinking they are in the continual will of God. It produces the hum-drum routine of worship which is sanctioned by their legalist view of life. (If I attend, pay my tithes, etc. I'm doing the will of God.) God's will is far more than good works. Preaching the cross, lifts Christ up, and by doing this, He said, "He would draw all men unto Him."
A sad thing is that sin has become an acceptable thing in the life of some believers. It is so prevalent that the Holy Spirit conviction does not phase some.
As children of God we must embrace every aspect of Christ in our worship, our daily walk, and our private lives where only He is present.
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