Dear Small Church Congregation,
You begin to feel rough and sluggish. You decide to go see your doctor and discover that you have gained too much weight and are taxing your circulatory system to the point that it has affected your overall physical abilities. Your doctor suggests a change in diet, more exercise and regular checkups to keep a watch on your progress toward better health. You now have to decide if you are going to follow his suggestions or continue doing what you have been doing that has created this poor health.
Now your brain takes over, and you have to choose to ignore the warning signs of a possible heart attack, or even a stroke, or are you going to do what the doctor suggests. The situation now becomes a matter of your will, your ability to choose. You know the consequences of each choice. Why in the world would you choose poor health over improvement when your brain is trying to get you to make a good choice? Why would you ignore your doctor?
Suppose that, instead of poor physical health, that rough, sluggish feeling, we are talking about your spiritual health. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re as close to God as you once were. Maybe you know you have slacked off on reading your Bible and you seldom pray. Perhaps you have not attended a worship service or Bible study in a week or two, or a month or two.
And then it happens—the Holy Spirit nudges your spirit and reveals to you that you need to do some correcting in your spiritual disciplines so you can gain spiritual health again. A friend tells you he has missed seeing you in the congregation, and you respond with, “I’ve been really busy lately,” knowing that is not really why you missed worship services. The pastor sends a text or calls to check up on you, and you begin to feel like “they’re harassing me.”
It’s at this point that your spiritual brain (the will of God being presented to you through Jesus) lets you know what you’re going to have to do in order to regain your spiritual health. I have to ask the same questions I did about your physical health—Why in the world would you choose poor spiritual health over improvement when your spiritual brain is trying to get you to make a good choice? Why would you ignore the will of God for your life?
In the physical realm, we ignore our doctors because we simply do not want to do what it will take to improve our health. We like potatoes with plenty of butter and sour cream. We enjoy the chocolate-glazed donuts. We see no reason to have to do without the foods we have always relished.
And exercise? Why would I exercise when I know I already walk plenty at work? I’m active. I’m no sluggard. I’m not a morning person, and I can’t see myself getting up an hour early to go to a gym. And in the evening, can’t a guy (or gal) simply rest in the lounge chair after a good supper?
In the spiritual realm, we ignore that spiritual nudging because we simply do not want to do what it will take to improve our relationship with Jesus. We’ve always enjoyed our favorite singers, regardless of the song lyrics. I relax while I’m watching those sit-coms that present all of life as one long laugh, regardless of their themes. I see no reason to change what I’ve always done when it comes to entertainment.
Spiritual disciplines? Why would I attend every worship service possible when I can tune in on the net without having to get out of my pajamas. Bible study? I get bored reading the Old Testament. Prayer meetings? I can pray at home. (But will I?)
If we make a poor choice when it comes to our physical health, the result can be devastating. If we make a poor choice when it comes to our spiritual health, the result can be just as devastating, only this devastation can last for all eternity. If we refuse to listen to our spiritual brain, if we reject God’s will for our lives, if we choose to reject a close relationship with Jesus, we have chosen spiritual death over life.
It has often been said that people do what they want to do. When it comes to your spiritual life, what do you want to do? Do you want to listen to your spiritual brain and act on the will of God that the Jesus reveals to you?
Sincerely,
A Small Church Pastor