Just One Question

Earlier on my facebook page, I commented:

Just thinking that as long as people can blame the church for their lack of growth, and lack of what is missing in their spritual lives, they'll never take responsibility for "tuning" into their own personal relationship with God. Where's the personal accountability? I don't think blaming the church is what will get us... out of that one...just what's on my mind...

And boy did I get some responses! Not by the number of responses, but the responses that were given were doozies for me.

I think it all stems from conversation with non-believers and believers, seekers, returners, and just people I converse with in general.

"I can't get this at my church."
"My church does this...does yours?"
"I disagree with this...that...the other..."
"It's a matter of difference between Pastors."
"I don't agree with our leadership."
"This is how it's always been."
"This is why it should change...because it always HAS been..."
"I was hurt at xyz church."
"I never got to learn that..."

Sometimes I get so disheartened when I hear it. Okay, more than sometimes. Most of the time. I wonder to myself...if I were someone thinking about going to church and I heard stuff like that, I'd just forget about it! We need to just stop it! We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our own growth. Why do people feel justified to blame their stagnant growth on the church? We have been given the right to salvation, but aren't there responsibilities that come with rights? And doesn't having rights require a proper attitude? Maybe this is the root of the issue.

I thought about the sermon I listened to today in one of our sister churches and how it taught me several things. I was excited to pull so many things out of one message! And the one that stuck out to me the most was about our personal responsibility to tune in to God to experience Him, know Him, learn about Him. Yes, the boom box our Pastor held as he dialed to tune in a station was an incredible, yet simple illustration that I could relate to. We want to learn all about God and experience Him, we've been given the keys, tools, and hall pass to do so, but how many of us are actually using them on a daily basis? We're just not tuned in. So is that the problem of the radio manufacturer or the person operating the radio who has yet to try to tune in properly?


I imagine this conversation: "Well, I'm just not liking that church over there. I'm not getting anything out of the teaching."

And, I can't help but wonder, "What are you DOING with the teaching?"

Sitting in church and hearing the message is only PART of it. Growth happens when we take it out into the real world and do something with it. And if you read the Bible, you'll know exactly what to do and how to do it. How's that? It's so simple! Jesus showed us how!

We are only in church on Sundays about an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half at the most. The majority of our time is spent outside the church walls. And our life doesn't happen only when we sit in church. Nope. It happens outside of church. And that's where personal responsibility comes in to play.

The church can give you the teaching, stories, and application Jesus modeled in the Bible. But, you have the responsibility to apply it to your own life, your own situations, and your own relationships outside of church...everyday. It's the same as being given a key to a building. If someone gives you a key, yet you don't make a conscious decision to do something with it to unlock the door for yourself, stop whining about not being able to enter!

I asked just one question on my facebook status today, and it made me really think about some of the things I've heard. I think the solution is many times up to us. Our lives are what we make them. Our attitudes shape our experiences. And until we reshape our attitudes, beliefs, and learn to create learning opportunities every day to grow further in our relationships with God on a conscious level, we may be missing what the church today really has to offer. After all, are we there to worship God or ourselves? I hope in worship that we are focused on the Father!

So my one question is this: Does our own attitude toward the church need an adjustment, so we are focused on the truth and our own responsibility for impilenting the teachings in our lives beyond the sixty-minute sermon?