Market-Driven Christianity
(Don Fortner)
"Am I now trying to win the approval of men--or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men--I would not be a servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10
Religion in America is big business. Scads of money, powerful personalities, huge egos, and positions of prominence, influence, and recognition are at stake in the business of religion, just as they are in any other business. There was a time when the concern of churches and preachers in this country was the glory of God and the truth of God. Today, like any business, the concern is for success.
Christianity today is market-driven. The goal of all marketing is to make both the buyer and the seller satisfied. Consequently, market-driven churches, in utter abandonment of God's glory and God's truth, in their insatiable quest for success and recognition--do whatever it takes to win customers and keep them.
Be warned! False doctrine and worldliness always go hand in hand. Worldliness usually leads the way. The early modernists did not aim at destroying biblical Christianity. They simply tried to make Christianity palatable to an unbelieving world. It cannot be done. When Christianity becomes acceptable to unregenerate people--it has ceased to be Christianity!
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing!" 1 Corinthians 1:18
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BIBLE MEDITATION:
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
The One who created the valley is there with you! He has prepared the way through the valley. It is not a place of permanence, but a place of passage. He knows every twist and turn, every changing shadow, every den where danger lurks—that One is with you!
Focus on the light and not the darkness. God has made you to walk through shadows. When the shadow approaches, you must walk through. The One greater than death is in you! He is your Jehovah-Shammah—the Lord ever-present. His grace is greater. His peace is purer. His devotion is dearer. Where Satan casts a shadow, our Sovereign Lord reigns supreme.
ACTION POINT:
This is a day of hope. Meditate on 1 John 4:4 throughout the day and ask God to give you a divine appointment to share this beloved truth with someone today.
~Adrian Rogers~
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When Others Fail Us
A disappointing friendship is one area of life that causes great distress. Companionship is one of our essential needs, and when friends fail us, we feel wounded, rejected, and alone. We’ve probably all experienced this to one degree or another, and the apostle Paul was no exception.
Although he’d surrounded himself with friends and had sacrificed greatly to take the gospel throughout the Roman world, when Paul neared the end of his life, he was basically alone. As he spent his last days in prison, only Luke was with him.
Some of the apostle’s friends were ministering in other parts of the world, but others, like Demas, had deserted him. When Paul stood at his preliminary trial, no one supported him. In fact, everyone had abandoned him. To associate with Paul at this point was risky.
It would have been understandable for Paul to complain about friends who’d let him down in his time of need. But instead, he displayed a forgiving spirit by saying, “May it not be counted against them” (2 Timothy 4:16). Although betrayal or abandonment hurts, we will never heal if we yield to bitterness and resentment. Forgiveness is our only solution.
Like Paul, we need an eternal perspective when facing disappointment. Nothing comes into our life without first passing through the hands of our heavenly Father, and no experience of ours is wasted. His ways may not make sense to us, but He uses every painful situation to accomplish His will in our life—and He’ll walk through it with us.
~Dr/ Charles F. Stanley~
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