I heard George Barna speak this week at a conference and came away from very positive insights and also some that saddened me. For those who don't know the name, George Barna is kind of the "George Gallup" of Christianity. His group takes many polls and measures trends in Christian churches around the world. You can check them out on www.barna.org.
In surveying Christians in America, 71% said that their religion was "very important" to them, and that's good news. But in this same group, only 19% were actually deeply committed to Christ in the priority of worship, Bible study, prayer, and serving others. 66% of these same Christians polled are what he labels "Casual Christians." They claim to believe in Jesus, but on a daily basis Jesus is way down on their priority. Their faith has little effect on their actions and attitudes. When asked to identify how they define themselves, they saw themselves or identified themselves in the following order: 1. individual 2. by their career 3. as a spouse or parent, 4. American 5. Consumer 6. Christian.
I was saddened to see that so many Christians today have Jesus listed #6. In Matthew 24 Jesus talks about the signs of the end of the age. In v. 12-13 He says, "because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." For a long time, I thought Jesus was speaking about the "world and the culture's love growing cold, but in reading the Greek it really speaks about the "love of Christians." The word for "love" is the Greek word "agape" which is the word for God's love given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Only Christians receive the gift of "agape" love, not unbelievers. Therefore, Jesus warns us that the "love of Christians" will grow cold.
One of our staff members attended another conference where she heard that the new definition of "faithful worship" attendance is 3 out of 8. That's a little over once a month in worship. That's the new standard...really? Seems pretty cool to me, but each of us has to answer these questions for ourselves in terms of our own "love" for God. My question for myself, how hot or cold is my love for Jesus? Where does Jesus rank on my scale? If I say He is #1, does it really show in how I am living my life? In my worship? My prayer time? My hunger to study His Word?
My question for you is the same...be brutally honest now...where are you on the "hot or cold" scale? And.....where does Jesus rank on your identity scale? Think about it and let's talk.....
Posted on
Thursday, November 20, 2008
by Steve Henze