Running on Empty?

"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."
- Romans 10:17

How easy is to fade slowly into spiritual inertia? You wake up one day and realize that you are almost totally without passion for God or the gospel of Christ. Your everyday routine is characterized by indifference to spiritual things and preoccupation with rote performance of mundane tasks, chores and duties and you're focused on the trivialities of life. Where is your zeal for the Lord? Where is your love for God? Again you've fallen into the trap of being consumed with the everyday diversions and distractions to the neglect of your spirit.

Now what?

Well, chances are you got there by allowing matters of lesser importance take precedence over time spent in solitude listening to the word of Christ. And where is the word of Christ contained? Come on, it's not rocket science! The bible, of course. Once again you thought you could get by without hearing is voice daily. Instead of reading his word you watched the news, read the latest New York Times best-selling spiritual self-help book, or mowed the lawn - anything really besides spending time listening to his voice.

How you got there should give you a clue as to how to get back to where you should be. Yes, the news is oh so urgent, you really want to finish that book so you'll finally know how to get your best life now, and the lawn is looking pretty shabby. But you know what? The world won't crumble if you if miss out on the latest developments in politics. In fact, the talking heads will be blabbing about the same things for at least the next week, so catch up on that later. And that self help book your reading may be all fine and good, but chances are if it contains anything of value then the author borrowed it from the book you really should be reading instead. I'll even go out on a limb and say that if you put off mowing the lawn for another hour the homeowners association won't come beat your door down.

Keep Listening

Did you really think hearing the word of Christ once was enough? Yes, when you heard the gospel for the first time you felt faith well up inside of you and you felt on fire for the Lord. But now you have to continue hearing the message of Christ to keep that fire going. It's not a "once and done" deal. Faith comes by hearing. So if you want to continue to have a faith that's ablaze and characterized by a deep passion for God, then make sure you keep hearing the message of Christ. Spend time in his word. Study it. Meditate on it. Memorize it. Cherish it. And while you're at it don't forget to do what it says! You do that and you just might wake up and realize that all those pressing concerns really weren't so pressing after all. And who would seriously want to trade them for a relationship with the living God, who is our most pressing concern, anyway?

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