Jesus is enough.If you come to Christianity searching for Jesus plus something else you’re coming for the wrong reasons. Jesus is a balanced equation; when we accept and follow Him the equation has already been balanced for us. We don’t have to add anything. We just have to subtract ourselves and our will and accept His plan and His will. We have tried to Americanize Jesus and fit Him into what we want Him to be. Truly coming to Christ might cost you everything but it’s worth it. It’s so worth it.
You can look everywhere today, just as promised throughout the Bible, especially the New Testament, that there is warning of many false teachers coming in the last days. Teachers that will become lovers of themselves and of pleasure and not preaching a sound doctrine, but rather a doctrine to tickle the ears of their followers and make God into who they want Him to be rather than who He really is. Nowhere in the Bible can you find where Jesus says, ‘come to me and you will have a lot of money’ or ‘come to me and you’ll have a big house and a nice car’. You can’t find it anywhere in there. And I’m not saying that it’s not okay to have things, but one of the chief principles of Christianity is to deny ourselves and follow Him. When we love things more than we love God, this is where we are mislead. That’s why the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. People that love money and love themselves more than they love Jesus will search for a doctrine to fit their lifestyle. He never promised wealth in a financial sense, but what He does promise is those who follow Him will have life and they will have it more abundantly.
I’m at a place where I’m frustrated when I look at the American church as a whole. I now understand in the book of Acts when the writer says that God no longer dwells in temples built by the hands of men. He lives in the hearts and the spirits of those who love Him and keep His commands because let’s just be honest for a second. And I’m not saying every church. I’m saying a lot of them, the ones you see in the mainstream, do not preach sound doctrine, and they’ve forgotten that it’s all about Jesus. It’s never been about us. It’s always been about Him. And when we start making it about us we need to repent and seek Him and ask for His forgiveness. There are more people attending church today than there ever has been. There are more people who claim to be Christians today than there ever has been and the world is in the worst state it’s ever been in. We live in the most narcissistic society in the history of ever. We truly are living in the days Paul wrote to Timothy about; the last days where men would become selfish lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God.
We’ve let church become somewhere we go on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights rather than us actually being the church. We’ve made it somewhere we go to feel better about ourselves and to hear the preachers revelation of the time he spent with God, rather than spending time with God ourselves and getting our own revelations. As Francis Chan puts it, it’s like we’re okay with knowing Moses and not wanting to go up the mountain ourselves just as Moses did and be with God. It’s like we’re okay with hearing others revelations and not hearing from Him ourselves.
This is hard to write.
This is so hard to write because it’s sad. It’s really sad.
I’m not writing this from a position of judgement, but a position of being challenged in my own walk and in my own spirit.
How much time do we spend alone with God and read our Bibles for ourselves?
How often do we seek Him on our own for our own revelations?
How often do we seek to carry out His will and get ourselves out of the way so His will can be carried out?
How often do we care for the least of these like He asked us to do?
Do we really love our neighbors like He asked us to?
Do we really love Him with all of our hearts like He asked us to?
Do we seek the Giver? Or do we just seek the gifts?
Are we searching for self fulfillment, or are we searching for the fulfillment of His kingdom?
I’m sorry, but I can’t allow myself to sit back and not say anything anymore, because this has been on my heart for such a long time.
I’m not bitter towards the American church, I love the church, and that’s where this deep rooted frustration comes from. Because I feel like we’re missing it. I feel like we’re missing the mark. We are supposed to be the body of Christ. We are supposed to be the church, but we’re letting the building be the church.
When is the last time you took the Bible literally?
When is the last time you took God at His word for what it is and not tried to twist it to your will?
Nowhere in the Bible do you see Jesus try to ascend Himself over others, but by humbling Himself and decreasing, the Father increases through Him so that His will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. And that’s what we have to do. And He promises us something if we humble ourselves and pray. He says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 ‘If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land’.
Are we willing to humble ourselves and receive the fulfillment of God’s promise to us?
Read your Bible.
Get alone with God.
Seek His face.
Fall in love with Jesus for who He really is and not what you want to make Him into.
Humble yourself and pray and He will hear our prayers and heal our land.
If anyone else is feeling the same challenge I’m feeling, I’d love to hear from you.
I’d love to hear your victories and testimonies and revelations you’ve received from God if any of you wish to share them with me as well.
Leave a comment or email me. (Christian.stokes@yahoo.com)
God bless you all and I hope if any of you are feeling this same challenge I have been feeling that you do something to spark change in your communities and in your own lives.
If you took time to read this I thank you.
God bless.
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