Refrigerators and Church Pews

First I would like to apologize for the lame-o thing that was yesterday's post. Sometimes a girl is just too busy to blog properly so she posts excuses and Youtube videos instead. Such is life.

I just got back from the Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, aside from buying 2 liter Pepsi products for $1 apiece, my trip was uneventful. When I got home, I decided that it was necessary to clean out my fridge before putting up my cold items (translate: there was too much moldy old junk in my fridge and I couldn't fit the new stuff in without cleaning it out). I hate to clean out my refrigerator. Seriously, I have not cleaned my fridge out in AGES. How long has it been, you ask? When I last cleaned out my refrigerator gas was $1.99 per gallon, milk cost $1.50 per gallon and Michael Jackson was black! That is a long time.

While I was throwing away unrecognizable food items that could make penicillin to treat thousands of people, I was thinking.........I bought that food when it was fresh. I kept in a cool place, but it still went bad. It was healthy and nourishing in the beginning, but the longer it stayed on that same church pew refrigerator shelf, it became first stale, then it became moldy, and eventually it became completely rotten. It became so rotten, I could not even recognize what it originally looked like. Do you smell what I am cookin' here? I hope you do even what I'm cookin' really stinks.

We can be at church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday, we can be involved in every church activity there is, but that does not mean we remain fresh in our relationship with Jesus. Just being in the church does not make us Holy. I do believe that EVERY believer should be a part of a local church (remember the part of the Bible that says "not to forsake the fellowship of believers"?, yeah, well I believe that God meant that part too), but being involved and present does not make us holy and consecrated. Involved Christians are not immune to becoming stale in our worship and spiritual life in general. Going to church is the good and right thing to do, but if you are not growing, then you are simply wasting your time.

Have you ever known someone who knew all the right "Sunday School" talk, but was obviously empty spiritually? Some people who are at church every time the doors are open are spiritually bankrupt - they become so concerned with "serving to be seen" they forget their purpose in coming to church is not to glorify themselves, but to grow in the Lord and glorify Him. They serve outside their gifts in an effort to have their hand in every ministry, but they are spread too thin to really do a good job in any ministry. There is nothing more stinky and rotten than a Christian who takes the focus off Jesus and places it on her/himself. Serving is all well and good, but when it comes at the price of losing your focus on God, then it is useless and all in vain.Oh sure they can talk the talk, but when the hard times come, talk is cheap.

Or how about the person who goes to church consistently, but has absolutely NO joy in their life? The person that sits in the pew every Sunday with one eye on their watch and one closed in sleep. These are the people that want to be involved in all financial meetings at the church so that they can know where their money is going. They think the preacher preaches too long, they do not see why we need Sunday School, they do not see a need for children's programs, and they have no idea why anyone would want to go to the mission field. We all know people like this and they are living proof that simply attending church does not keep us fresh in our spiritual walk. Our pews are filled with stinking rotten, moldy Christians who are in the right environment, but have become stale nonetheless.

I think this is a good reminder for all of us - especially me (too bad I had to clean out my fridge to think of it).



Thanks, Fran for the tip help!!!