Held in Contempt?

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

“Familiarity Breeds Contempt” is an old and wise saying. It is also very true especially amongst the Christian community. I put out the following little pithy 140 characters of homespun wisdom a few days ago –

Are we taking the Lord for granted?

Are we too familiar around Him?

Do we revere & treasure His presence as we should?

Now, there’s some deep questions for you. I wonder how you would answer them? I know that the Lord challenged me on them – and I failed !!

Are we taking the Lord for granted? Do we assume too much of Him, of His presence? Do we welcome Him as we should? Do we praise and worship Him daily with our whole lives or do we presume upon His presence?

Are we too familiar around Him? I overheard a conversation in church recently. One lady, a new Christian I assume by the comment, said that she felt a presence and peace during the meeting. The other lady said, “Oh that’s just Jesus!” – just Jesus !! Have we so lost sight of Him that we reduce Him to ‘just’ anything?

Do we revere & treasure His presence as we should? Do we ‘give Him praise in everything’? DO we welcome Him every time? Do we thank Him for everything? We in the West are particularly deficient in the reverence stakes. Our pastor tells of a trip to Korea. When they sang about ‘bowing the knee to Jesus’ every person present except the band knelt and praised God from their knees. He turned to the pastor of the church and asked if this was a cultural thing? “No”, came the reply, “Its Biblical.”

Are we taking our precious Lord for granted? Do we treat Him with a contemptuous familiarity. I recall another conversation at a conference. That one church had a wonderful time in the very presence of the Lord last Sunday. Very sadly, the reponse was along the lines of, “Oh we have that every week – don’t you?” It was said in a very superior manner – arrogant you might say. Certainly with the air of one who took it totally for granted. One who was so familiar it became almost boringly normal. One who did not reverence His presence at all. It may just have been the speakers normal manner, but I sensed the Holy Spirit’s grief at hearing him say such a thing.

Are we taking the Lord for granted? Perhaps if we did this less then we might experience more of His presence in our meetings.

Are we too familiar around Him? Perhaps if we welcomed Him as we should and gave Him the praise and worship of which He is so worthy, then we might see a few more signs of real revival.

Do we revere & treasure His presence as we should? Ahh – If we revere and treasure Him as we should then revival will become more than just a word on our notice board and more an experience for the whole community.

Perhaps – just perhaps.