October 6: Of Sunday Christians

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

Colossians 2:8-23

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 24:26

Jeremiah 7:1: "'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"—safe to do all these detestable things?"

Colossians 2:8: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

For so long I struggled with the idea of Sunday Christians.  I was practically a charter member of my generation - the kind who lived in sin Monday to Saturday, then thought everything was fine when I showed up at church on Sunday.  It certainly wasn't just me - there was a lot of it going around…people like me who mechanically mouthed prayers, chatted outside, even flirted in the choir loft between hymns.  And so many people said it was ok.  

Little surprise, then, my life was little changed for the better. And the habits I developed got me into trouble, and the trouble I got into seemed to multiply.  Sunday church didn't matter, because I wasn't really at church…physical presence alone was insufficient, no matter what the hollow and deceptive philosophy of human tradition preached.  

Someone finally explained it to me.  Church wasn't supposed to be the cure, it was supposed to be the manifestation of the cure.  Coming to church on Sundays was supposed to be the leper's return to Jesus to thank Jesus for healing him.  The deliverance, the change of our hearts - that comes from God, from relationship and communion with Him.  Being close to Him, we are transformed.  You know how people who have been married together long enough start finishing each other's sentences, start anticipating each other's needs?  Their relationship changed them, cleaved them together.  That's the same relationship we should want with God.  

Father, help us to recognize the subtle lies the world and our sinfulness tell us.  Remind us that You aren't a Sunday God, You are God of every day, every moment.  Teach us to hunger to be with You every single day, every single moment.