11/06/2025
"It's important we as a sent people evaluate the -isms of the world in light of God's unchanging revelation. In other words, we read the Bible first so we will know how to read the world news next" - Trevin K. Wax, (Brentwood, TN: Holman, 2019), 4.
Someone wryly observed some time ago that the mantra of every pastor is "Read the Bible, pray, go to church." It seems, though, that for many in the Body of Christ, the main-stream media speaks more into their life than the Word of God. There are times when I read through the headlines I find myself singing quietly under my breath: "Jesus is coming soon/Morning or night or noon..."
The Body of Christ will be weakened and battered not by huge onslaughts straight from hell, but by a decrease in time spent communing with God through His Word and then in prayer. I'm of the view that all the devil needs to do is watch the Church implode by spiritual starvation. That's why my mantra, so to speak is -- read the Bible, pray, go to church. Believers in Christ will find it more than difficult to continue to live in obedience, live in holiness, and live in righteousness if God's Word slips below scrolling reels on the cell phone, watching television, playing video-games, and doing whatever else pleases the flesh. A colleague some time ago posted a two picture meme on Facebook. The top picture showed a nearly empty sanctuary on Sunday morning; the bottom pic was of Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, on Sunday -- filled to capacity, with the fans covered in ice and snow, bundled up in snow suits, gloves and heavy boots. The comment on the meme was heartbreaking -- "People have no time for Church but all the time in the world for this" (meaning going to a game in freezing weather).
A Christian worldview matters because the primary "object" in our minds must be Jesus, ahead of anything and everything else. In whatever way a Christian practices his/her politics, or reads the news, or participates in the community, the overarching control must be Jesus Christ. Period.
Anything less puts Jesus second. And if He is second, then to whomever He is second, He is no longer the Lord of glory.