Mechanical Christianity

Do you remember the first few months or years of your Christian life? You were full of the joy of living water. You exuded peace and laughter. You had dreams and visions of the things you were going to do for God. Fast forward to today. Are you still full of the joy of living water or have you mastered the art of professional Christian living? Put simply, where is your walk with God leading you?

 

As believers we all have seasons when our walk with God becomes routine. Caught up in the daily grind, we relegate God into a ‘box’ and then try to mould him to suit our purposes. And then of course, there are those situations when we simply get tired of struggling and let’s be frank, of ‘the whole Christianity thing.’ In the midst of believers we talk the talk but the Lord alone knows our hearts. He sees our tears of frustration as we cry out for release from the challenges that threaten to bind us. He also sees the walls we erect around our hearts, walls that shut Him out of those places that needs His healing touch.

 

The apostle Paul reminds us that, “God is not unjust to forget [our] work and labour of love which [we] have shown towards His name,” (Hebrews 6:10). Those challenges we face might seem designed to destroy us, to hold us bound to the situations we face but in actual fact they are used by God to perfect that which He has already started in us.

 

How is your wineskin? Has it been replaced anew and bursting forth with the fresh wine the Holy Spirit readily gives, or is it just plain tired? So often in our Christian walk we get apathetic, burdened and weary. In our weariness, we get a jaundiced view of the Lord. We become convinced He is setting us up for failure and condemnation, all the while forgetting His cry, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29, italics mine). Jesus yearns for us to fully understand what it means to be free in Him and so often we hold onto those things that stand in the way of the full revelation of Him. I pray that you will be given the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of Christ that you may know what is the hope of His calling.

 

Walking with the Lord requires trust and determination. A determination to trust Him come what may. However, this is not something the Lord expects us to do in our own strength. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that l said to you” (John 14:26). Indeed, “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). It is also worth mentioning that "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7, italics mine).

 

I believe professional Christian living originates from those seasons when our walk with God becomes a religious routine. God did not intend for us to remain at a certain spiritual level all our lives. He wants us to grow in our knowledge of Him. This invariably means that we will be faced with challenges. And through those challenges, our faith is stretched and we grow in our knowledge of God. When we ‘play it safe’, we are saying to God, “l am fine now, don’t rock the boat.”

 

Jesus did not intend our walk with Him to be a religious rite of rules, regulations and principles. And yet it seems that way. So many times I have asked myself, “Surely Jesus did not intend for it to be this difficult? Where is the joy in serving the Lord? Why am I so confused and so resentful of the One I profess to love?” When this happens, I realise that I have become so involved with the situations I find myself that I have stayed at the foot of the cross instead of looking up and beholding His glory. Serving the Lord is simple. Jesus made it simple. He did not say it was going to be easy but we have an everlasting promise, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” God designed for us to walk in a relationship with Him. A trusting relationship. This means that when we are burdened or in need of refreshment, He expects us to come to Him. He longs for us to know Him as He knows us. He says, “But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob; And you have been weary of Me, O Israel” (Isaiah 43:22).

 

Sometimes, we get so familiar with God we hide our true self underneath a veneer of religion. Instead of doing that today, why don’t you just simply have a one to one with Jesus? Not a practised run of prayers, not a rite of practised Bible verses, just simply a conversation between Father and child. God says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine. Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honoured. And I have loved you” (Isaiah 43:1, 4). What are you waiting for? Hearken to His voice for He calls you.