The church is the Lord’s house, not ours. Therefore, a main goal of anyone seeking to build His house should be to get the design from Him. What would the church look like if it was built with the sole purpose of being the place the Lord wanted to dwell, instead of building what would attract people? If He is among us, it would likely attract many more people than we do now.

      We may protest that our church enjoys many of the Lord’s blessings, but as we have covered, the Lord will bless many things He will not inhabit. Only the immature will be satisfied with just the blessings. It is a far higher purpose to seek His dwelling place. 

      When the Lord called someone to follow Him, the commitment was total. He said those who sought to save their life would lose it (see Matthew 16:25). Isn’t that what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted to be numbered with those who were giving all but “held back part of the price” (see Acts 5)? How many Christians today give their life to Him but hold back part?

      We can hardly blame most people for their shallow commitment because they are merely responding to the weak gospel message they were given. A study from many years ago concluded that the way a person was born would have an impact on their whole life. The results of this study were astonishing.

      For example, those born with the birth procedure nicknamed “drug them and tug them,” in which the mother and baby were drugged so as not to feel the pain, became part of the drug-addicted generations that followed. They took drugs to lessen the pains and difficulties of life. In the same way, it seems that those who come to Jesus through watered-down appeals used by some evangelists today are examples of believers with weakened conditions.

      The level of commitment we have to the Lord is also reflected in the level of commitment we have to His body, the church. The Lord taught that He would consider the way we treated the least of His people as the way we treated Him. Many today leave their church body for the shallowest reasons. Because these people require constant ministry and encouragement to coax them into staying, we would likely be far better off as a church body to allow them to leave. The Lord did not chase after those who didn’t want to follow Him.

      The Lord said He would prune away any branches that were not bearing fruit (see John 15:1-2). Christians who are weak in their commitment will rarely bear fruit, and will steal the resources and attention that should be going to those who are. This may sound harsh, but there is a reason the Lord said, “Woe to those … who nurse babes” in these times (see Luke 21:23). Such immature ones will not make it through the times we’re entering, and will likely take down others with them.

      The body of Christ would be much stronger if we called people to the Lord with His message. The true Christian life is the hardest life one can live in some basic ways, and those who are called need to know this. It is also the best life one can live in ways that are far more important. However, when new believers are told that if they give their lives to the Lord He will fix everything for them, and are not honestly told that living for Christ will bring many troubles and persecutions upon them, they will soon feel lied to and usually leave the faith because of it. Such who feel so mistreated by Christians will likely be among those who then persecute Christians.

      The true Christian life will have many difficulties others do not have, but they also have advantages others do not have. We will have challenges and persecution, but we have the Lord with us in them, and everything we go through will work out for our good (see Romans 8:28), not to mention that we do not have to fear death, as it is just the beginning of a much more wonderful life for the faithful. We are told that even Jesus suffered the cross for the joy set before Him, so it is right to share with new believers the blessings and promises we have in Christ, in addition to the realities of the hardships they will face.

© 2024 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.