Come Out of Superficial Christianity
The last week of December, I had the honor of sitting with about thirty leaders of the prayer, worship, and missions movement for a day of relational connection and sharing what the Lord was placing on our hearts. It was a rich time of fellowship and also a real time of sharpening.
The key point that the Lord emphasized through this group of leaders was that the Church must deal with our superficiality right now. Our lack of depth has left many susceptible to false doctrine and in some cases apostasy. As these points were shared there was an obvious sense of conviction from the Holy Spirit. I personally felt compelled to attack any areas of superficiality in my own life. (I’ll write about some of these things in the coming days.)
Superficiality is defined as living with a lack of depth or serious thought. Richard Foster in his classic Celebration of Discipline states, “Superficiality is the curse of this age. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”
Our culture has offered us a very shallow existence. We celebrate and applaud one another in our digital environments for the most meaningless things. For many young people their chief goal is to “go viral”. Five minutes of fame has become five seconds. Likes, followers, and views have replaced the values of hard work, grit, and faithfulness. The truth is believers are not simply bystanders. We are deeply engaged accomplices.
Foster stated in a recent interview, “Many people come to worship services and they are never really present, they are never really there. We need to learn to be present where we are…One of the things that has to happen is a letting go of distraction.”
We have made peace with our distractions and thus we have made peace with our superficiality. What will happen to the church in twenty years if we continue in this descent of shallowness? What of the next generation? Who will be the fathers to point the way?
By the end of the leadership meeting it was evident that the Holy Spirit was calling us all out of superficiality and calling us into a much greater depth in God. Two Beatitudes were highlighted as values that we must all engage and live:
Mat 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn they shall be comforted
Mourning over the sin of the land, the state of the church and the fact of Jesus physical absence is normative for the church. This posture of heart must be once again embraced and practiced by believers.
One leader offered this stinging instruction, “Maybe the reason for our barrenness isn’t warfare. Maybe the resistance we experience is the resistance of the Lord. Maybe He’s across the table from us, resisting us with kind eyes, because of our superficial ways. He doesn’t want to give the precious things of His kingdom to us cheaply, so He’s urging us to go deeper.”
By the end of the meeting we had identified five key areas the Lord was calling us out of superficiality (I will write on this next week). I’m thankful because we were all challenged, convicted, and tenderly corrected by the Lord. I pray these words spark something in your own heart, so that you ask the Holy Spirit to expose areas of superficiality in your own life.
Hosea’s words are appropriate for us right now:
“Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” (Hos 10:12)