Why Are Christians Lazy!

This might come across as a bit strong, but it’s been one of my pet gripes for many years, and I wanted to finally get it off my chest.  

WHY ARE CHRISTIANS SO LAZY! 

I wouldn’t say I’m a strong type-A personality, but I do like to be in charge, and I crave details.  I love planning and organizing projects.  But one thing I learned early in my ministry was that God doesn’t always operate like that.  He doesn’t usually give us the full plan up front, because if we had it, what is the point of trusting in His provision and grace?

However, something that really bugs me about our Christian culture is that we are constantly “waiting on God.”

-We’re waiting on God to move, or to show up.

-We’re waiting on God to get us a better job, to fix our relationships, to bring our healing.

-We’re waiting on God to give us permission to date, to bring us our spouse.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t rely on God. Of course we should. But sometimes relying on God looks a lot like hard work. God provides us with our daily bread. God gives us what we need. But for the dreams he has given us, for the desires in our hearts, for the things that give us joy and fulfill us, much of that is our responsibility. God provides the wisdom, strength, and the good sense to follow the path He has laid before us. 

We have become lazy as a Christian culture. If you look at anyone in scripture, what were they doing? Exactly, they were DOING! God gave them a vision of their destiny, but they had to get up and walk towards it. They had to take the steps towards the dream God had given them.  

In Joshua chapter 3 we read about the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land.  Sure they prayed and God told them to cross the Jordan in a certain order, but only until they took that first step in faith, and their feet touched the water, did the waters of the Jordan open up for them.

Look at King David. He gets anointed as King when he is a kid, and had to walk through a difficult struggle before the crown was his. But during that time of walking forward, taking risks, knowing and trusting God was with him, he matured and became able to step into his royal mandate. (1 Samuel 16-2 Samuel 10)

And then there's Esther. God placed her in the palace for “such a time as this,” to help save her people from the evil advisor to the king. Do you think that if she was waiting for God to drop the playbook in her lap that her goal was going to be accomplished? (Esther 1)

You want God to move in your city? Go out and start telling people about Jesus. Start serving the poor, the widow, the orphan, the outcast. Be the blessing they need. Stop waiting for God to just intervene in their life; that is your job. We are reminded in James 1:27 that, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  You are God’s hands and feet.

You want a better job, better marriage, or to get healed? Do something about it! Look for the job that is going to be life giving! Sit down with your spouse and talk!  Go sit down with a mentor or accountability partner and get some prayer. God is waiting to give you what you want and need, but you have to take a step towards it.

You have to start asking for it. God won’t give you what you don’t ask for. "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." (1 John 5:14-15)

You want to ask that pretty girl or cute boy at church on a date? Then DO IT!  I am so tired of people who are tip toeing around dating and are too scared to hurt another person or be hurt.  I was like that all my life.  Finally, when I was 41 years old I met Alice.  I asked her out immediately, and I was so afraid I would lose her I began asking her to marry me within a month.  Ended up I had to ask her six times before she said yes, but she did say yes, finally.

We are adults (well, most of us anyway).  Act like it. It’s just dating, not premarital counseling.

All that, to drive home this point from earlier:

Stop being lazy. Stop complaining that nothing is happening. Do something. You have the Spirit of the Living God in you. Take a step forward in faith and know God is with you. Don’t worry about not knowing what God wants. If you want to know what He wants, begin to know His ways.

When you are rooted in His ways, His will is not much of a mystery: Love God. Love people. Advance the Kingdom. It’s a simple as that.

 

 

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