I am tired.  Tired of churches who try to be innovative by playing the corporate game.  Tired of Christians who live their life putting their own interests and desires above the message of the cross.  Tired of religion based on traditions that no one even knows the meaning of anymore.  Somehow we’ve screwed up along the way trying to do what Christ asked of us.  Jesus didn’t say to play the numbers, to build a huge building… in fact He didn’t even say we needed a building or that we had to meet only on Sundays to sing a bunch of songs and listen to some guy interpret God’s word for us.  

I think there is an inkling of usefulness in many of the above things, but largely Christians today have set up an idol in the form of the church and have turned their attention from God to just the church or to catering to people who think they know what they want.  This Church that we’ve set up is so much like our own brazen serpent on a stick that somewhere out in the wilderness meant something.  We’ve abandoned the faith for the cheap imitation of faith.

When we accept Jesus Christ, He doesn’t just come in quietly.  He ruins our lives.  He didn’t come into our lives to make us ‘nice’ but rather to make us creatures of a different world.  

I have a dog.  Dugal.  He’s a great little Cocker Spaniel who is really excited to see us when we come home from work.  We’ve tried countless times to teach him not to jump up on us when we come home.  Nothing seems to work.  I’ve often been reminded of God in my little dog.  I open my Bible to read a bit and God jumps out on me through some random verse, often convicting me of some random sin in my life or encouraging me to press on torward the mark or live a life clothed in the grace of Jesus Christ poured out for me.  Often I try to do the same thing with God as I do with my little dog.  Push Him away.  Tell Him to get down or calm down.  

Truth is, I am the one who should be running to Him, jumping up playfully needing His attention, kissing His face… only wanting to be as close as I can.  He’s an amazing God who desires to give us every good thing.  

May we become wildly in love with God.  Fully reliant on Him, embracing the fullness of what the cross means instead of clinging to the cheap imitations we like to wear around our necks as a status symbol of who we once were before we got too comfortable.