Wake Up

Forrest Gump’s mom liked to say, “stupid is as stupid does.” And if we think about it, we could also say, “the church is as the church does.” Can we go even further and say, “God is as God does”? Maybe. But, whether we realize it or not, our behavior as a church reveals what we think about God. It certainly affects how other people see him, for better or for worse.
Scripture calls the church Christ’s body and refers to believers as Christ’s brothers and sisters. Likewise, these same believers are brothers and sisters to each other, bound together through one faith, one Spirit, and one baptism. Jesus’ call to follow him was a call to stuff any and every relationship beneath him and his people. At least that’s what the church was supposed to do.
But the church is as the church actually does. Unfortunately, many people find being a disciple difficult and look elsewhere for their identity, turning to nuclear families, longtime friends, careers, national citizenships, sports teams, and even corporate brands (well done advertisers) for community and self-worth. All of these things offer a lesser vision of a church that is now no longer a counter-cultural society, bound to a different Lord than Caesar and driven by a different ambition than self-preservation. Instead the church is seen as just another cultural institution with its own, albeit limited, space. What really fuels this approach to the church is a different idea of God—a God who no longer disrupts our errant thoughts and loves, but rather validates them by letting us be captains of our souls. Before we know it, we as a church treat Christ’s body and our brothers and sisters bound to us as a hindrance to what we think really matters. Eventually, we become too busy for each other. And too busy for this idea of God too.
We might be able to say the proper things and share our faith with others verbally, but to any outsider the church is not what we say, it’s what we do. What are we doing?
But the true God also sees us. And he still loves us! After all, we’re family. But I know he’d love it if we woke up and at least tried to be more like the family he’s called us to be:            “Wake up, sleeper,            rise from the dead,            and Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:14).