Spritual Suicide

The Lord has been so good to grant me some blessings, some “handfuls of purpose,” these past few days. We arrived here in NJ on Friday, set up the tent on Saturday, and began the tent meetings Sunday. I came here so hungry to hear something from God, to hear from folks who love the Lord and fear His name, and the Lord very kindly showed me His goodness.

We’ve been traveling these two and a half months, and it seems to me that I have seen more spiritually sleeping people on this trip than I have ever seen before in my life. I have been a servant of the Lord for twenty nine years, and I remember many times of fervency, and of seeking Him. A strange lethargy has overtaken His people here in America; a very odd thing to behold.

While I was in PA, I spent some time with a friend of mine whose daughter has been diagnosed with anorexia. Now, for those of you who don’t know, anorexia is an eating disorder. The young person becomes obsessed with her looks and thinks she is fat, when in reality, she is just right, perhaps even a little skinny. Many times anorexia becomes a serious problem as the person refuses to eat. In many cases, anoexia is fatal.

I got thinking the other day: I wonder if we American Christians are spiritual anorexics? Or, more precisely, spiritually bulimic. Bulimia is a related eating disorder (many anorexics are also bulimic) where the person eats and then gags themselves to throw up all the food they just ate, so they wouldn’t get “fat.”

It seems that we go to church and hear the preaching, then go home and turn on the TV, completely erasing all the spiritual gains we got in the House of God. We get no nutrition, though we are going through the motions of “eating.” We could be enjoying the great meals of the Word of God, but we allow the electronics and gizmos of this world to ravish our hearts and take us withersoever they will.

Because she rarely eats, my anorexic friend’s daughter experiences physical problems like digestive issues, bruising for no reason, etc. In actuality, these physical problems are merely symptoms of a greater problem. I wonder if many of the problems we experience in our lives – marital problems, financial problems, parent/child troubles, etc, are merely symptoms of a greater problem: a lack of true, close, intimate “still” time with God. Maybe we are lacking that precious time of meditation on the Word, that calms our hearts, stills our souls, and turns us in the right way. Maybe we are lacking those special prayer times, where God seems to be right there in the room with us.

Are American Christians killing themselves?? I wonder…..