While you are waiting…

In May of 1961, President Kennedy issued a challenge that was embraced by the American public. His goal, that “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” was a driving force for the advancement of our society for the next 8 years. And in July of 1969, that goal was realized when an American set foot on something that had always been considered impossible to get to. Our nation had rallied around an idea and as a people we rolled up our sleeves and set out to do what had never been done before in the history of the world.

But I was not born in 1969 and I never saw the realization of the dream that so many had shared in.

I come from the generation born after the moon landing, the generation that grew up with the dream already achieved by someone else. The paradigm swing that took place in just a few short years following this momentous event is astounding. We changed from being a nation working together to achieve something extraordinary to a nation who waits for something to be done before they participate.

My generation knows that with technology everything is possible; in fact, we do not really believe that there is very much that can not be done with technology. And so we wait for someone else to invent something new that will save us from having to do anything at all. Give me convenience or give me death is the rallying cry of my generation, let me buy it or rent it from someone else.

Recently I was at the Texas State wrestling tournament where my oldest son was competing. As I walked with him around the huge building, I saw a team’s shirts from somewhere in north Texas. On the front was the name of the team but on the back was something that caught my attention, it read; “Everyone wants to be a champion but not everyone wants to prepare.”

That struck me as being so true that it momentarily shocked me.

We all want to be a champion, don’t we? We want others to see the greatness that we think that God has placed within us. We retell stories of the great revivals of the past with awe. We enunciate the names of our dead heroes with solemnity and weight. We dream that maybe someday we will see something like what others have in the past. And then we wait for it. But waiting never made a man a champion, preparing to be a champion made him a champion.

I believe that we suffer from this in the church more than anywhere else. You see, I have done revival meetings now for a long time. I can honestly say that I was excited about the possibility contained in every one of those gatherings. But me being excited was not enough, no more than if President Kennedy would have been the only one excited about the possibility of a moon landing.

In the church, we can have a preacher come to town with a direct word from the Lord that has the potential of shaking everything that can be shaken. He can be anointed of God and prayed up to the hilt. But if his work is not joined by a committed group of believers who are intent on laying the tracks down to prepare the way of the Lord through prayer and word of mouth then all of his labor will be in vain.

Having good meetings is not enough; having divine appointments is all that matters.

Today we want someone else to do the work and then we want to have the option of joining in if we feel so inclined. If it looks like enough people are doing the same, we may give it our attention until something else comes along. We want a nice, large church to hide in- one that will care for our kids, not ask for money too much, not go too long and not expect us to do anything unless we are good and ready to do it. We want to be spoon-fed good things that cost us nothing.

If this nation is spiraling downwards, don’t blame the Democrats, don’t blame the media and don’t blame the devil. Blame yourself. We are more of an enemy to the plan of God than the devil could ever hope to be. We are spiritually stoned, and sitting in the apathetic stupor that being stoned causes and marvelling at the decline of everything around us.

A secular artist named John Mayer recently had a hit with a song called “Waiting on the World To Change”. In it he says,

Me and all my friends

We’re all misunderstood

They say we stand for nothing and

There’s no way we ever could

Now we see everything is going wrong

With the world and those who lead it

We just feel like we don’t have the means

To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting (waiting)

Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting (waiting)

Waiting on the world to change

It’s hard to beat the system

When we’re standing at a distance

So we keep waiting (waiting)

Waiting on the world to change

Nothing so captures the limp spirit possessing this generation than those few lines. We can’t do anything, so we are just waiting. We can’t stop abortion, so we are waiting while 50 million tiny babies are destroyed in wholesale slaughter that makes the Jewish holocaust seem like a small event. We can’t stop the moral decline of our nation, so we are just waiting inside of the sanatoriums that we call lovingly call churches, trying to feel good while all the bad stuff happens outside our little bubble.

We can’t really do anything so we tune in, turn on and drop out.

How long will we wait for the world to change exactly? How long will we allow the media to speak for us about how much we hate our president and skew the perceptions of Americans who are determined to follow the herd? How long will we be mocked in the media without raising a single cry? I am here to tell you that unless you become the change, you are going to be waiting until the day that you die.

The bible tells us to ask, seek and knock. If just asking is not enough, if that must be followed up by seeking and knocking- how far will complaining get you?

My God, get up church! Shake yourself from the slumber that has come upon you! Be the change today in the church. Don’t look around and get exasperated because no one is showing the change that you want to see- you do it.

Let’s lay the groundwork for a mighty revival by asking, then seeking and then knocking. Let’s do everything that is in our power and then see what God does. Let’s shake off the slumber that has come upon us and make the decision to give God no rest until we see His will fulfilled in our country again.