"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." {Matthew 6:33}
In the movie, Apollo 13, Jim Lovell radioed the Houston space center, "Houston, we have a problem." This began a complicated series of events that ended with the crippled space ship returning to earth, cutting short its flight to the moon surface.
Sadly, I must admit that the Lord's church (speaking from one preacher's point of view), "has a problem." Recently, the local church where I labor held a special three-day gospel meeting that was aimed at getting those outside of Christ to come and hear the Bible story. We wrote letters and telephoned all the local churches (eight of them), placed ads in newspapers and on the radio, published flyers, and announced the meeting and its purpose at every service. How did it turn out? I've never been one to judge a meeting's success based on how many people were converted. Yet, it was very disappointing from one standpoint: Only ELEVEN people from all the other local congregations attended the first three lessons (on Friday night and Saturday morning), and many of our own members did not attend. Saturday's attendance was 38! I'm talking about a total of over 550 Christians within a less-than-30-minute drive!
Unfortunately, spring and fall gospel meetings are not much better-for the local-area churches and our own! Why? Speakers? Subjects? Time of year? None of those things matter in the long run; the bottom line is Christians are just too busy, and they're not interested. Can someone please tell me how we're going to convert a lost and dying world to the gospel of Christ when God's own people have little desire for His word? Does anyone really wonder why we're not growing and, in fact, getting smaller? Why are so many Christian families losing their children to the world?
I'm personally tired of members who continually point the finger of blame at the preacher and the elders. What about each person's own personal duty and obligation to the Lord? Christians who are worried and wondering about the church's current state need to start looking in the mirror.
Dear readers, the Lord's people have created this problem, and we are the only ones who can fix it. According to the Scriptures, we are to love the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12); we are to give ourselves to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:5); we are to grow in His grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18); we are to rejoice when the word of Christ is preached (Philippians 1:18).
On numerous occasions, I've been told that I'm just too hard on people and that I expect too much. Really? Please tell me how we're going to convince the Lord we want to be with Him for all eternity praising and worshipping Him, when we cannot even avail ourselves of the regular and special meeting times a few times each year? To ask the question is to answer it!