Daily devotion: Consumer, spectator, disconnected, or family?
The Consumer and the Church: The Brother or the Visitor?
Romans 12:15 — “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
A church is filled with a mixed multitude of people. Some are one-time visitors; others attend regularly but have little or no meaningful interaction with anyone. Some approach church almost as spectators, watching what takes place but playing no vital role in serving, giving, praying or interceding.
Sadly, this consumer mentality is not isolated to the Church. We see it in many modern marriages and families, where sticking fast, enduring together and remaining loyal to one another can sometimes seem like things of the past.
When this same attitude enters the Church, the body of Christ suffers. Instead of identifying with the Church as something close to, and sometimes even closer than, our earthly family, people remain transient and disconnected. They know little of the trials, struggles, pains and victories of those sitting beside them because they have never developed genuine relationships within the body of Christ.
Yet for those who heed the teaching of Scripture and take seriously the words of Jesus concerning our relationship as brothers and sisters in Christ, Paul’s words in Romans 12:15 take on a deep and profound meaning.
When a brother or sister weeps, we should weep with them.
When someone is carrying a burden, we should care enough to help carry it.
When another is struggling, we should not simply watch from a distance. We should come alongside them in prayer, fellowship, encouragement and, where possible, practical help.
And when someone rejoices because God has blessed them, we should rejoice with them rather than becoming envious or indifferent.
This is what a living Church relationship looks like.
The question each of us needs to ask ourselves is: Why do I actually walk through the doors of the Church?
Is it simply to attend, watch and receive? Is it to visit without ever becoming accountable or connected? Or do I recognise that God has placed me within His body to be a living stone, a brother or sister whom others can count on in times of need?
Too many footsteps through church buildings are driven by a purely consumer mentality: “What’s in it for me?”
But the biblical question is very different:
“God, how can I be a blessing?”
How can I serve?
How can I pray?
How can I encourage?
How can I carry someone’s burden?
How can I rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep?
The Church is not a theatre where we sit in the audience and watch the performance. It is the living body of Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Head.
We are not called merely to be visitors. We are called to be brothers and sisters.
So let us move beyond simply attending church and begin truly being the Church. Let us become faithful men and women of God—people who are present, available, prayerful and dependable.
People who others know they can count on.
People who will stand beside them in the valleys and celebrate with them on the mountaintops.
Are you merely a visitor and consumer, or are you a faithful brother or sister within the body of Christ?
Lord, make us less concerned with what we can receive and more concerned with what we can give. Help us to become the kind of brothers and sisters who can always be counted upon—to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. Amen.