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The Faithful Few, Hang On!
Sunday in Bible class, we were continuing in a video series talking about the hurried lifestyle we all live. Tim Allen is the moderator, and he used an example that really stood out to me. He compared the church to a professional football game, and when he said that, I wondered where he was going. He said professional football is 50,000 people in desperate need of exercise watching 22 people in desperate need of rest. Overstated to emphasize a point for sure, but the point is also duly noted.
He didn't use that illustration in exactly the same way as I'd like to today. I'd like to use it to encourage those of us in the church to stay faithful, and to keep working, and if we are weak, to work harder! The number of people who are genuinely devoted to the Lord as evidenced by their life and hard work for Godly things, hails in comparison to the number of people in the world who are armchair quarterbacks and critics of the job Christians are trying to do. We know we are greatly outnumbered. Let us use that knowledge for strength.
It's always easier to be the spectator than the performer, and it's always easier to criticize than to actually do the work, and it is a human trait to become tired and weary. In Rev 2:3, the church is praised, ..."You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary."
The Hebrew writer, thought by many to be the Apostle Paul, talked a considerable amount in the letter about people of faith in his attempt to call Christians to persevere, to remain strong, and to grow their faith.
In Chapter 10, after reminding his readers that Jesus opened the curtain for us into the Most Holy Place by His blood, he then says "... and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,..."
As we work sincerely from the heart, with full assurance of the promises of God, let us not only continue to work ourselves but spur each other along as well. Today, that is our prayer for all of us in the Lord's church.
