Why your Christian life is stagnant

Do you believe your Christian life is stagnant? That you are caught in a place where you are barely growing? Then this post is for you, though I will be the first to tell you that what you’re about to read will be hard.

It is the truth but it will also be bitter. Bitter because it seems we have become so filled with the sweetness of “gentile” Christianity that we have almost forgotten what the gospel is about.

Have we allowed our need for comfort, ease and convenience dictate our Christian walk?

This post is an indictment against our willingness to maintain the status quo when we know our present reality is far from God’s actuality. 

Where we are more likely to stay silent in the midst of injustice and suffering. Where we are more moved by our comfort than God’s word.

Where the things that matter to us are so different from the things that matter to God. Including those moments when we want to be seen doing the right things, even if they are not the God things.

Where our religion becomes an unbreakable noose around our delicate necks. A noose that expects us to pray with conviction but live without intention.

Are you stuck in your Christian walk, barely able to break free from the laws and doctrines that have held you down?

Please read on

Getting Stuck (Poem)

Stuck in our comfort zone

We are quick to see but do nothing

A little smile here, a prayer there

And we believe all will be okay

 

Stuck in our broken mindset

We are quick to note our differences

We speak words of unity but our hearts and actions

tell a different story.

 

Stuck in our lovely homes

We never know the pain and sorrow of others

We believe they hurt due to lack of faith and focus

And want them to step up or step out.

 

Stuck in our sense of entitlement

We wait for God to answer every prayer and plea

But never really ask:

God, what can I do for you?

 

Stuck in our deceptive religion

We say the right things but do nothing.

We do as we wish and believe

God will bless as we see.

 

The realities for Christian Women in today’s world

What is one word you would use to describe Christian women in our generation? I would say commitment.

But here is the sad thing, while we are probably more committed than ever, I worry that our committment is more to things than to the one that made things.

One question we should ask ourselves, as often as possible, is: What I’m I committed to, God’s will or societal expectations?

I say this firmly reminded of my failings in this area, where I could have done so much more but didn’t. Where I focused more on me than ‘them’. By a need to fill the holes in my life not realizing that I was required to fill the holes in others.

“He that watereth shall be watered also himself.”

Proverbs 11:25(KJV)

I thought I was being good but then my yardstick was that of the world and not God.

We were not created because we wished it, or because our parents prayed for children. We were created because God allowed it and it is his intention to use us for a purpose, his purpose.

“For I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Exodus 9:16

“It is a fatal mistake to assume that God’s goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it.”

Rick Warren (The Purpose Driven Life)

How are you choosing to live your life? Are you still caught in the web of distractions that plague Christians of our generation? A generation where we are more impressed with success characterized by the number of followers, the “likes”, the people in our network and the money in the bank.

“Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.”

Rick Warren (Purpose-Driven Life)

 

I pray we realize, sooner rather than later, how transient life is. If we spend most of it on the things that do not matter, it may make it harder to spend it on things that matter, to God.

I say and believe I love others like Christ but the simple truth is that I’m quick to select my moments of love. I make excuses when it’s hard, uncomfortable, dirty, painful and when it hurts.

Is this the same for you? Do you only do the God thing when it’s convenient or when it will cost you nothing?

Well, this is our time to change, to get unstuck and unfettered.

We have been called to love without conditions, this is our mandate as God’s ambassadors and children on earth.

Here’s wishing you a refreshed and intentional life lived fully in love and grace.