Have we made our congregations so comfortable in church that they no longer feel the need to worship God? So comfortable that they see no need for sacrifice and service, no need to go on to perfection? Has the church been overrun by non-Christian members as leaders, who now shape her character and mission? Could our own comfortable way of having church be responsible for the weak response to the rare Gospel message? Are we raising up the next generation to accept church as a good thing, worthy of our attention as long as we don’t have more important things to do? In other words, have we made church about ourselves and not about the Christ Who died for it? 

I believe that the answer to these questions is, yes, we have treated God too familiarly and not with the Godly fear that He deserves. Have we so quickly forgotten about “fear and trembling” as we work on our relationship with God? This is by no means a new attitude toward God; mankind has been in rebellion against God from our very beginning. Hear these words from God Himself some 2800 years ago, about the behavior of the Israelites.

“Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for a time to come, forever and ever: That this is a rebellious people. Lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophecy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophecy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.’” — Isaiah 30:8-11

As I read this, I cringe at the disrespect of God’s chosen people toward the God who claimed them as His own. They have basically told God to leave them alone, to go away, and the prophets and seers to speak lies to them instead of the life changing truth of God’s holy word. The hearts of these people are completely turned from following God. The amazing thing is that they know what they are doing, they know that His word is true, yet they ask to be lied to — they only want to hear “smooth things.”

Please Lord, don’t let this be a picture of the modern-day church.

The Rev. Bobby Thornhill is a retired pastor.