If there were a way to draw the blood from American Christianity and send it off for a lab test, it would come back with extremely low levels of doctrine and discernment. The test would also reveal elevated levels of emotionalism and entertainment. Now when a doctor gets lab results back, he begins by looking for the cause of these abnormalities. Then he offers a form of treatment to bring these levels back to a healthy range.
I’m no doctor but I am well acquainted with what ails the churches of this country. Lets start by addressing how we became so unhealthy. No, it wasn’t that we refused to go to the gym, many churches have their own gyms. Maybe it was those Baptist pot-lucks that crippled us? No, dinning together is a Biblical form of fellowship. The problem began when we sought to get bigger. I’m sure you were taught the same thing I was growing up. When it comes to church attendance, bigger is better. This is bad spiritual advise. It ranks right up there with former belief that smoking was good for you. Nothing could be further from the truth. Scripture never tells us to do all we can to get bigger. It says, preach the Word and make disciples. The Lord grows the church, not us. That shift in the church’s focus has left us biblically ignorant and addicted to the nonessentials. We have done everything but what the Bible describes in an effort to expand Christianity across this country. That has left evangelicals spiritually weak and out of shape. It’s time to address our health.
In order to bring those discernment levels back up we need heavy does of Bible doctrine. As our level of Bible knowledge increases we will rightly see the world around us and begin making better decisions. As we become the salt and light the God designed us to be, others will be influenced by our change. I would liken that advise to a prescription, something to be taken 2 or 3 times a week. Most people are OK with taking a little pill as long as they don’t have to make any real changes to their life. But we still need to address those dangerously high emotional and entertainment levels. There’s no pill for that. It requires a spiritual change. Why do we go to church? To hear a great band? To get a warm fuzzy feeling? Because the kids like it there? None of those are sound reasons. We should go where God’s Word is clearly taught and the gospel is regularly proclaimed? Don’t go where it’s all about you. Go where it’s all about Him. “That in all things He might have the preeminence.”
Friend, if you’ll regularly take Bible doctrine and seek the glory of God in a local church, you’ll see an improvement of your spiritual health. If God would grant many of us to do the same, we would see this nation changed.
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