I love to read the blogs of a wide variety of believers…and unbelievers.
I enjoy reading a new take on Scripture. A new bit of Biblical history. A story on trends in the Church and in our faith.
Notice I said “enjoy.”
Today, I read an article I didn’t enjoy.
I am glad I read it.
I don’t know for certain what I will do with it in my own life.
Stephen Kneale is the pastor at Oldham Bethel Church in Manchester England.
He blogs on a site, “Building Jerusalem” subtitled “Among these dark Satanic mills.”
The blog I found intriguing—and disturbing—is entitled, “The Danger is in the Good Times” written on January 22nd of this year. I will summarize the blog here—but urge you to go to the site and read it for yourself.
We can be disturbed together.
Pastor Kneale begins by reflecting on the Parable of the Sower. He notes that of the four types of people Christ references, three are not saved. One rejects the Word flat out. Two appear to believe—but then fall away. One of them faces hardship. The other one “gets taken up with the cares of the world.” Kneale speculates that those cares might not necessarily have been bad.
He moves to Deuteronomy 8: 7-18 (ERV). The Scripture talks about how God brings his people through a land of riches:
The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with rivers and pools of water. Water flows out of the ground in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land with wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. It is a land with olive oil and honey. 9 There you will have plenty of food and everything you need. It is a land where the rocks are iron. You can dig copper out of the hills. 10 You will have all you want to eat. Then you will praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
But then the warning: Don’t Forget What the Lord Did
11 “Be careful. Don’t forget the Lord your God! Be careful to obey the commands, laws, and rules that I give you today. 12 Then you will have plenty to eat, and you will build good houses and live in them. 13 Your cattle, sheep, and goats will grow large. You will get plenty of gold and silver. You will have plenty of everything. 14 When that happens, you must be careful not to become proud. You must not forget the Lord your God. You were slaves in Egypt, but he made you free and brought you out of that land. 15 He led you through that great and terrible desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. The ground was dry, and there was no water anywhere. But he gave you water out of a solid rock. 16 In the desert he fed you manna—something your ancestors had never seen. He tested you to make you humble so that everything would go well for you in the end. 17 Don’t ever say to yourself, ‘I got all this wealth by my own power and ability.’ 18 Remember the Lord your God is the one who gives you power to do these things. He does this because he wants to keep the agreement that he made with your ancestors, as he is doing today!
Pastor Kneale notes that the Israelis were far more likely to care less about the Lord when everything was going well. He concludes that one of the greatest dangers for God’s people was their own comfort.
When they were in the wilderness, they HAD to trust God. He was the source of their food, their protection, and their guidance. But, the good times were ahead, and the Lord knows us. He knows that when things get comfortable for His people, His people often don’t look to Him for their guidance. At times, they forget Him altogether.
Pastor Kneale adds, “The point is simply that the danger of comfort and blessing is that we become complacent, proud, and soon forget God. The warning is, if we truly belong to him, he will go to some considerable lengths to ensure that we come back to him and remember Him rightly again.”
But then Kneale takes it a step further. “We want to live in nice places, with nice jobs, nice schools, nice cafes, full of nice people who are just like us…and we are so comfortable with it all. But I think this has stymied our growth. We grow when we are pressed into action by the Lord… our opportunities for growth are limited because we have grown comfortable. And, in our comfort, we forget the Lord. Obviously we don’t forget him altogether, but we forget what he actually demands of us. After all, Jesus says, ‘if you love Me, you will keep My commandments’—and that includes all those difficult and highly uncomfortable things. We need to take seriously the call of Jesus and make ourselves much more willing to become much less comfortable.”
I have greatly summarized Pastor Kneale’s blog—and urge you to read it in its entirety. It forces you to ask yourself what you are willing to do—during the good times—to discomfort yourself to serve.
If nothing comes to mind, I suggest the following:
1. Think of those in your orb whom you admire for their service. What types of things are they doing?
2. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes on how you should serve.
3. If nothing still comes to you, take small steps and continue to pray. Bake cookies for the local nursing home. Send thank you cards to those in your community who serve you – firemen, police officers, etc.
4. Consider visiting those in need.
5. Be willing to take bigger steps if you feel the tug of the Holy Spirit.
6. Be willing to step out in faith.
I remember reading the story of Katie Davis, who was the senior class president and homecoming queen of her high school in Nashville Tennessee. She went to Africa on a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She was so moved to care for the children of Uganda that she gave up everything and ended up adopting 14 Ugandan children and serving many more. She stated that God “ruined her” in a good way for her comfortable life. The life of service was far richer than her life of comfort in Nashville.
Not everyone will end up completely leaving one life to take on another.
But, as Christians, we have to be willing to, knowing wherever God leads, it truly will be better.