Wednesday, September 27, 2006
ARDOR AND ORDER
I am hearing Christian leaders increasingly say that the contemporary church landscape is as bleak and barren as it was centuries ago on the eve of the Reformation.
Worldliness and doctrinal chaos abound in much of American church life today. Sound doctrine is out and entertainment is in. Fad-driven Christianity seems to be the order of the day.
Sound teaching is not the only pressing need, however. One can be as orthodox as the day is long, but what does it profit without a personal relationship with the living God? How crucial it is for Christians to be in a vital relationship with God in Christ--to be able to say with Paul of old, "I want to know Christ."
God is the rewarder of those who earnestly (not casually!) seek Him. It is also imperative that we hold on to and proclaim sound biblical doctrine. God's people should be characterized by spiritual ardor and biblical order.
May these dangerously exciting times find us seeking hard after God (Hebrews 11:6), even as we watch our life and doctrine carefully (1 Timothy 4:16). Let us wholeheartedly commit to knowing God’s Word and the God of the Word!
Worldliness and doctrinal chaos abound in much of American church life today. Sound doctrine is out and entertainment is in. Fad-driven Christianity seems to be the order of the day.
Sound teaching is not the only pressing need, however. One can be as orthodox as the day is long, but what does it profit without a personal relationship with the living God? How crucial it is for Christians to be in a vital relationship with God in Christ--to be able to say with Paul of old, "I want to know Christ."
God is the rewarder of those who earnestly (not casually!) seek Him. It is also imperative that we hold on to and proclaim sound biblical doctrine. God's people should be characterized by spiritual ardor and biblical order.
May these dangerously exciting times find us seeking hard after God (Hebrews 11:6), even as we watch our life and doctrine carefully (1 Timothy 4:16). Let us wholeheartedly commit to knowing God’s Word and the God of the Word!
