THE WAY OUT

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

I feel like I’m in a stage of mourning something right now. Anyone else? We’ve been talking a lot about what’s going on in our Country, and y’all know that we are certainly mourning that. However, I am experiencing a sense of sadness over the state of Christianity that I never have before.

You know, I think that many of us are thinking that we’ve got the future to get serious about Jesus. Madie hit on that topic so well in the blog post she wrote for all of us last week. But if that’s your mindset, I would just challenge you to walk through a cemetery sometime.

Just read the dates on the tomb stones. It’s not just elderly people who die.

It’s insane, when you walk through a cemetery. It’s just shocking. It’s like, what? They were only 18. 24? 31? Oh, ok 94 I expected that, but 50? Seven?

1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

This is a weird verse, because usually we think of prayer as a means to an end, right? I’m going to pray so that I can gain this. Ok, that’s Biblical. But here, scripture tells us that prayer is the end. Meaning, I want your prayers to be strong, because the end could come at any time for any of us, and the one thing you really want to have together when that happens is your prayer life.

Self-control is key. Peter is telling us to not give into all the things that could mess up our prayer lives. It is so crucial that we protect what goes into our minds, whether that be YouTube videos, news apps, sports etc… So that when we pray, we aren’t going a million miles an hour.

That’s what I see so many of us doing right now though! See, the quality of our prayer time is often determined by what we do before we even utter the first word.

Don’t you want to be one of those people that when you see Christ you’re just like, ahh! I was just talking with you a few minutes ago! There you are!

I mean, that’s what we want, right?

Listen, the problem is that many Christians can walk through the cemetery, realize that Christianity is dying, and not be bothered by it. While some of us are mourning that it’s dying and that no one even sees that it is.

If you’re one of The Few, I know that you’re probably feeling helpless and frustrated by the fact that no one wants to do anything about it. I get it, but read this quote…

“Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” (C.S. Lewis)

Come on, somebody! This isn’t the first time Christianity has been in the cemetery and six feet under. Our God is not bothered by the grave. The impossible has never stopped Him. He knows the way out.

Now, this isn’t a post for those who aren’t bothered by the fact that Christianity is dying. This is a post for those who are mourning that it is.

I clarify, because for some, this sounds like I’m saying that we can just sit back and do nothing, when in reality, I’m saying the complete opposite.

I’m reminding The Few that God isn’t done with us. There is still much to be done. There are still souls to be won, and while that be the case, God will continue to lead us out of the grave.

I’m reminded of Mark 1:1-5 which tells us about how the demonized man lived. It says, “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesushad stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.”

All the enemy has to do in order to win us is keep us among the tombs. We don’t even have to be bound. We just have to be willing to stay there.

The point: There’s a way out.

Church, Jesus is calling us out of our graves. Though the way out may appear to us unworkable, our Savior is a waymaker.

He knows the way out because He has been here before.

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= What are you going to do differently?