The Downfall of the Church Today

Scripture: Exodus 33:14-16

And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. "For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?"

Insights: Tomorrow I will expound more on today’s Thoughts by Scott.  Today I wish to lay the foundation for tomorrow’s explanation.  The verses today do not really set the scene, and yet, are pivotal for us to understand what I am attempting to get across.  I believe there is a downfall in the church today.  I think this same downfall can be applied to our everyday experiences.  I believe we are so wrapped up in our wants and desires that we have missed the entire purpose of church and the meaning behind a relationship with Jesus.  In today’s verses Moses is clearly communicating that it is our relationship with the Lord God that makes us different from everyone else in the world.  We, however, have so gravitated toward the things of this world that at times it is hard to distinguish between the world and the church.  As we walk in this gray area it permeates our dysfunction and reveals how fragile our lives really are.  If God’s presence is not central to our lives, then we do not display the very evidence of a life of distinction.  We are called to such a life and we are not showing it to a watching world.  Beloved, tomorrow I will elaborate in more detail what I think has captured the heart of the church, but let me encourage you until then to ask the Father if there is anything for which you have settled as a substitute for Him.  If He reveals anything to you, let me encourage you to repent and seek hard after the Lord God.  Let Him truly be the central and total aspect of your focus and devotion.

Questions:

1. Does your life resemble the church and its difficulties?
2. Are you content to have your life remain in such disarray?

Prayer: Father, forgive me when I let everything else in this world take precedence over You.  Do not let me ever be satisfied with the things of this world.  Always stir within my heart a discontent for the sinful trappings of this life and let me have an insatiable hunger for You.  Amen.