Daily devotion – Walking with God against the tide of consumerism
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
When we come to together at the local Church where God has placed us, where we serve the Lord and His people, we can encourage each other to a life of worship – to being part of God’s family in the local Church.
But there has arisen a consumerist, hitchhiking mentality for many modern Church attendees, who drift from Church to Church basing their attendance purely on ‘their appetite or feelings’ at the time. That’s how the business world operates and thus we have a constant move of people drifting between church after church even in the same week.
The Bible teaches us to commit ourselves to a local expression of Christ’s body.
This is the only way we can as members of the body of Christ commit ourselves to building up that local body of Christ with our prayers, time, service and stewardship.
This way an individual, a couple, a family, plan their lives around the life of the Church instead of individual pursuits.
Helen and I over the years we and our family have walked with the Lord, have said no to sports programs and activities that would seek to take us away from where God placed us on the Lord’s Day.
As we give ourselves to the local body of Christ, we seek to do so in a way that pleases Christ, who loves it and gave His life for it.
This week let us review the place the Church has in our own lives and that of our family.
Ask ourselves if consumerism and individualism has affected our attitude toward the local Church.
Then based on what the Scriptures teach us about the local Church and the Lord’s Day, what changes we might make in our walk with the Lord and our connection to His body the Church.
Am I a hitchhiker Christian, a spectator Christian, a drive through Christian, a relationless Christian, a lone ranger Christian – or am I a blessed living part of the visible body of Christ bringing the gifting that God has given to each of us to see His body built up?
1 Cor 1:7 ….But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.
1Cor 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.