And you call yourself a Christian....

What are your greatest grievances against the church? I mean, when you think of the ways that believers fall short of their calling, which shortcomings come to mind?

Do they sin too much? Do they love this world too much? Do they like sports, money or entertainment more than they should? Are they unfaithful in their prayer lives? That’s a big complaint that I hear in church circles. At least once a year, someone will take the stage and say, “We need to pray more people!” Does this phrase sound familiar? “Christians need to get out of the pews and get busy about the great commission.” Does the church serve its community or the world as well as you think it should? Are we evangelical enough? Are we combating aids, child poverty, spousal abuse or drug abuse like we should?

As much emphasis as we place in out Christian community on The Word, prayer, worship, outreach and evangelism, I often question how important these really are. I have a test for you. It’s a very simple test. Complete the following sentence.

Anyone who doesn’t __________ enough, does not deserve to call himself a Christian.
1) Pray
2) Witness
3) Read the Bible
4) Help those in need

What do you think? Some of you already know that I’m being intentionally tricky. There are only a few things that I have found which call for us to hand in our Christian badge. We can’t drink blood. We can’t eat food that we know has been offered to other gods. We can’t continue to intentionally live in sexual immorality and we can’t eat strangulated animals. I would also add murder. If you murder people on an ongoing basis and you aren’t willing to stop, I’m really not comfortable sitting with you on Sunday mornings.

There is at least one other area, that when we fall short, calls our faith into question.

1 Timothy 5:8 (New Living Translation)
8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.

I always encourage you to read more than just the tidbits that I post here. In this passage, Paul is speaking to Timothy, telling him that widows should be cared for by their children or grandchildren if they have any. Paul has some serious words, basically saying, “If anyone refuses to provide for their own family, they don’t deserve to call themselves a Christian.”

I’m nearing the end of my Bible again. I’ve been through it a few times, at least four, and I don’t recall such words for any other area of our walk.

Does it happen? Are there people who fail to look after their own ailing parents? Are there parents who seem to find money to support their own personal habit, but don’t have enough to pay the rent or buy baby formula? I’ve seen it in the world. I hope it doesn’t happen in our homes. Is it more common in homes where mom and dad have split up? I have someone in mind at the moment and I don’t think he read this. Apparently, dad always had money to spend on his snowmobile, but never had enough to help support his children. I’ve heard of a mom who spent her son’s university tuition on her own entertainment. Are there children who would let their parents starve? Oh I hope not.

I’m not without sin myself, so I won’t call down fire on anyone. It isn’t like this is a new law, but the principle at work here has little to do with the law, but more of love. When we can’t even care for the people in our immediate family, it isn’t that we have broken a law, but rather, we have denied the faith. Our actions have demonstrated that we really don’t believe in or have any intention of following Jesus.

I’ve never asked you to be evangelists, prayer warriors or Bible scholars. I hope that I do call you consistently to be the dad, the mom, the son or the daughter that you need to be.

My kids are fed and my wife has enough clothing to keep her warm, but I can be very selfish at times. My parents are able to look after themselves at the moment. I just pray that if the day ever comes when I need to be more for the people in my household that I’ll be man enough.

If you are part of my family, I want to go on record by saying that you have been everything to me that I have expected you to be. You have not let me down. So if you lie awake at nights because you don’t feel like you visit often enough, I hope I have set your conscience at ease. If I have failed you, you have to let me know, because I really don’t have a clue.