I’m sick and tired.
I’m sick and tired of the lukewarm faith evident in me first, and then in so much of the church of Jesus Christ.
I’m sick and tired of how we trample on grace, ignoring its rightful response.
I’m sick and tired of our close enough is good enough approach to discipleship, as we conveniently ignore the gospel’s radical command to die to self.
I’m sick and tired of our young people being inoculated to the gospel by the anaemic approximation of Christian faith they often see in the church.
I’m sick and tired of our compromised witness.
I'm sick and tired of the slow progress towards Christ-likeness in me and in those I am called to lead.
I'm sick and tired of excuses.
I’m sick and tired of our quiet and complacent surrender to the gods of our age – consumerism, hedonism and relativism.
Why now? Why now articulate such a melancholic state of mind? It's not one thing, but a series of encounters, conversations and seemingly random thoughts - a growing sense of unease.
Then today I read an article published in the Washington Post. The article, quoting research from Paediatric magazine began:
New research suggests that teens who spend the most time watching sexually charged television shows are twice as likely to become pregnant or impregnate someone else.
(You can read the article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110301268.html)
Our young people drown in media that consistently portrays expressions of sexuality completely at odds with a biblical framework. Sex has become a commodity divorced from it spiritual foundation. Garbage in, garbage out.
Our culture has so normalized drinking culture, binge drinking is endemic in our young people, including in our churches. It is not unusual for a young man or woman to raise their hands in worship on a Friday night and be raising the same hand to down one too many Vodka Cruisers on Saturday night, all the while not seeing a disconnect between the two.
Too many families have been seduced by the spirit of our age, caught up in a relentless pursuit of more, storing up treasure on earth rather than in heaven. It has never been the Goal of the life we have been entrusted to accumulate toys.
It is not meant to be this way. In the words of the catechism, only as we glorify God and enjoy God forever will we find the fulfilment and joy we so crave in this life and desperately search for elsewhere. We, that is the church, are called to be holy, just as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15). We are a people set apart, that we might declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. (1 Peter 2:9). Only as we are set apart can we truly be the salt and light that Jesus’ envisaged, flavouring and seasoning the world with his grace and love.
And so we come to confession. God, forgive us. Forgive us for what we have lazily tolerated. Forgive us for being of, rather than in the world. Forgive us for the poor example we have provided our children.
We need to exercise our God-given freewill and the lost art of spiritual discipline in choosing not to drink in the hedonistic excesses of this broken world, but rather to gulp down the many good things of God available to us. In the Spirit’s power we can overcome the spirit of our age. The church at its best always has. History is replete with inspiring examples.
Finally, as Saint Paul encourages us, ‘Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’ (Philippians 4:8) Righteousness in, righteousness out.