When life is good and church is fine

I read a line from the book “Leaving Church” written by Barbara Brown Taylor:  “When life is pretty good and church is pleasant enough, who needs resurrection?”

In that line, I hear Taylor saying that comfort is one of the biggest enemies to a Spirit filled life of following Jesus Christ.  One of the biggest obstacles to living a life close to the Lord is when we’re wiling to settle for a life of mediocrity.  We are able to muddle though life, getting by, paying our bills, taking the occasional vacation, immersing ourselves in kids (or grandkids) sporting events or other activities, attending church enough to ease our conscience, all the while life is slipping away.  And too many of us will get to the end of it and realize that we neglected the thing that mattered most – our relationship with Jesus.  We settle for far less that what God would ever have for our lives.  I’m reminded of this quote from CS Lewis:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

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1 Response to When life is good and church is fine

  1. The quote by Barbara Brown Taylor shocked me when I read it! You hit the problem right on about settling for present comfort. This point is especially made when comparing our situation in America to those of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, that comfort leads to apathy. In regards to the C. S. Lewis quote it seems somehow we can be too easily pleased and yet at the same time never pleased – just a little bit more is enough. Great post!

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