Are you a buzzard? …

I spotted a couple of buzzards a few nights ago.

“Front counter buzzards,” to be precise.

Having been back in Arizona just a month now, I’m working out at a new gym. As I finished my workout and exited, I noticed a couple guys hanging out at the front counter talking to the guy working at the gym that night.

I had noticed the same couple of guys at the front counter a few nights in a row. They come in and spend a lot of time (the duration of my workout) talking to the front desk guy. They really aren’t at the gym for a workout. They will eventually meander onto the gym floor and and play with the equipment, but getting in a real workout isn’t their objective.

For “front counter buzzards,” just showing up at the gym makes them feel better about themselves because it exercises their “desire” to be fit, plus the social interaction is enjoyable for them. They aren’t actually getting fit, but that’s not the point for them. In fact, front counter buzzards often are long-term members who see their waistlines grow and fitness actually decline during their membership.

But they’re having fun!

Front counter buzzards remind me of “foyer buzzards” at church.

You know, those church members who show up and spend their time talking with friends in the foyer of the church. That’s their purpose for showing up.

“Foyer buzzards” really aren’t interested in worshiping, studying, giving, , serving, or otherwise engaging. They’re at church — religiously — for the social interaction.

I certainly don’t knock the fellowship aspect of “going to church.” Fellowship is a rich part of the Christian experience. But it is just one aspect of being a follower of Christ. “Foyer buzzards” pick fellowship to death, and then go home, content they’ve gone to church. They don’t serve, they’re “clock watchers” during the sermon, and they’re generally disengaged in a Bible study (except for the fellowship time).

God calls us to do much more, to be much more. He wants us fully engaged in the life of the church. Worshiping, supporting, serving, sharing. In fact, Paul put it this way when writing to the Galatians, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important” (Galatians 1:2-3).

Being a part of the church is to extend ourselves beyond the “warm, fuzzy” part of fellowship to helping each other shoulder the burdens we bear in life. It’s not just “being at church,” but “being there” for one another in life.

Are you engaged? Or are you a buzzard?

Scotty