I had a former church member who used to text me and tell me he was very bored. I asked him how can a Christian be bored? I told him maybe he needs to find two jobs instead of one. I asked him how much was he praying per day. He told me he was praying 3 to 4 hours. I asked him, if you are praying 3 to 4 hours a day, then why is your life still messed up showing little progress? How can you be bored then? How can anyone who claims to pray 3 to 4 hours a day be bored?
Of course, he was lying to me. He was only telling me a one time event in which he may have prayed 3 to 4 hours even if what he was telling me was true. People in general like to tell us their one time best rather than what they do consistent to define themselves.
We do this with the defintion of belief, faith, loyalty, love, and etc. We say we have faith because we are defining faith based on a particular event or information. We say we are loving someone because we may have done something out of love for a moment or short season. We say we believe because we did once believe. But the real question God will ask is but what about now? HE rebuked the churches to return to their first love. They thought they were loving God but it had faded away. They were doing their own works.
So this former church member also said he was very loney. I asked, how can a Christian who claims to be spirit filled and born again be loney? In fact, if he was praying 3 to 4 hours, reading the bible for another hour or so and working full time, how can he/she claim they are loney? How is it that their lives are going from bad to worse? How is it that their lives have no peace when they profess to know God acting so spiritually and happy to others.
They are bored and loney because they have yet to repent. It is due to their sins. Their sins have made them go far away from God when HE has always been near. The fruit of their lives go from bad to worse because of disobedience to God. Rather than confessing and repenting with a contrite heart to God, they seek self pity from men as they go to men with their problems to find comfort.
Psalm 25:16-18 (NLT)
16 Turn to me and have mercy,
for I am alone and in deep distress.
17 My problems go from bad to worse.
Oh, save me from them all!
18 Feel my pain and see my trouble.
Forgive all my sins.
In Psalm 25, the author is alone or loney in deep distress. His problems are going from bad to worse. He is crying out for help. He is asking for someone to feel his pain and see his trouble.
The main difference between King David and most Christians is that when King David was alone and distressed, he knew his troubles from going bad to worse was due to his sins. Who did he cry out too? Did he cry out to other church members telling others he was loney, distressed, to feel their pain, and to see their troubles? No, King David cried out to God. Yes, King David had sinned, but he humbled himself before God. He did not need pity from men. He did not need others to see his poor situation. He took responsibility for his own actions realizing it was his choices that led to his loney and painful circumstances. Therefore, he was a man after God's own heart. He was not a man after other people's heart.
I hope God's people receive wisdom and humble themselves to cry out to God rather than to men. It is time to get out of self pity and arise as the children of God. May we understand spirtiual authority to find Freedom in Christ. Let us examine our fruit and decide to change back to path of righteousness.
Pastor Steve
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