Unaware of God …

At a time when the church is in decline, persecution of Christians globally is on the rise, and sin increasingly pervades our culture, many Christians are living as if they were unaware of God.

Just this week, while funerals of members of a historic church in Charleston were being conducted, many Christians felt it important to publicly argue over an indefensible confederate flag.

The behavior of many professing to be Christians is increasingly becoming as if they are blindly and wholly unaware of God, squandering their days on the trivial, the trite, and the untrue. This seeming unawareness of God is a vital awareness that the famous German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once wrote about …

We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer would add to that this conclusion …

Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’” (Luke 2:10)

Jesus didn’t come to strike fear into our hearts, but He is God who came to lay claim to us, and He did so fiercely! His call was for an immediate and all-consuming followership …

Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.” – Matthew 8:19-22

Contrast that call from Jesus Christ to the desire of many Christians to waste their time arguing about flags, politics, and so many other things while behaving as if they’re unaware of God.

God has, indeed, drawn near to this little planet that He created and has staked His claim on us. Jesus invites and challenges us to follow Him NOW, forsaking everything to live for Him. Our greatest need, then, is to seek and feed an awareness of God, leading to a worship of God, a hunger for (and feeding on) the Word of God, and daily walking (humbly) with God.

Does the way you live your life each day reflect a great awareness of God in your life? Are you allowing anything to distract you from God? Do you spend your days so absorbed in the unimportant you have little awareness of God?

Scotty