08/31/2026
MONDAY's MOMENT
Faithfulness does not happen on its own. We cannot decide to follow Jesus and expect nothing to change as God's sanctifying (transformational) grace flows through the Holy Spirit, who resides within us and all around us. Like all successful relationships, our relationship with God through Christ takes effort. We are saved by God's grace; however, it is up to us to follow Christ or not. Many people believe that coming to church is enough, or that doing a few good works will be sufficient to please God. This is a tragic and eternally fatal assumption. I hope this next part will help you make sense of what I am saying here:
Erosion in our faith does happen openly or obviously. Just like the serpent's whispers to Eve, the erosion of our faith begins with the introduction of doubts, desires, and entitlements into our faith thoughts. The erosion of our faith begins with a war of the mind.
Like the serpent, the world whispers our greatest desires back to us. The caveat is that the devil is a master manipulator and can make those desires LOOK like they would be good and righteous in God's eyes. That is the trap. Once we are convinced that what we are doing, though outside of what God commands of us, is the "right" path, we begin to deconstruct our faith and reconstruct it in our own image instead of God's. This is when the biggest danger occurs. Our faith erosion moves from our minds to our hearts. This is where the most damage is done. We become disciples of comfort, entitlement, nationalism, hedonism, and humanism. We create a "golden calf," thinking we are focused on God whilst Satan laughs at how blind we have become.
Okay, so how do we fight this? The answer is a call back to Christian discipleship.
1) READ THE WORD and PRAY! God's word is in our hearts. The Holy Spirit unlocks it. We cannot battle the world on our own. Christ already won the victory for us. We need to pay attention to how Jesus tells us to live so that we can remain faithful and righteous in God's eyes.
2) Don't dismiss the draw of idols as a fairy tale. Idolatry is very real and the strongest weapon in the world's arsenal. Sin, temptation, our jobs, our kids, our politics, and anything else that takes our focus from God or tries to warp our relationship with him through Christ.
3) Small Accountability Groups - we will start working on this. Groups of three or four people that meet weekly to hold one another accountable, pray for one another, and lift each other up are KEY to staying faithful.
4) WORSHIP - Showing up Sunday is not the same as coming prepared to worship. Something you should know: I see your faces as I preach and as we interact. God sees your face, but more importantly, your heart at all times. Worship is not only an act of celebration, it is also your witness to others. When we "Pass the Peace" in the morning, we are not just saying 'good morning'; we are saying that we forgive one another for any slights that may have occurred over the week. We come to the altar clean.
Today's lesson is longer; however, I am excited to see where God is leading us. As we address those broken parts in our minds and hearts, God will heal us and free us to bear witness to the amazing things he has in store for us.
God bless,
Pastor Don
