Church In A Bottle

We live in a very different generation than those that have gone before us.  The modern trend of "healthy" living does not involve changing bad habits, eating correctly, or changing our sedentary lifestyle; instead, we buy a bottle of pills.  Oddly enough, if the bottle says "natural", consumers stand in line to get the next miracle drug.  We fail to ask ourselves if it were really "natural", why do the results not happen "naturally".  An aspect  of our metabolism and digestion is severely altered by a pill, and we sing it's praises.  We do not have to change our diets or our habits, we simply take this pill and the pounds fall off leaving a trimmer and healthier you.  Sadly though, we look beyond the consumerism of the marketing, the multi-level scheme, and the fact that the praise for the pill results in another sale.  Another consumer who is conditioned to depend on something in a bottle!  The "all natural" pill has results that lasts only as long as the pill is consumed on a regular basis.  Immediately after the cessation of the product, our unhealthy lifestyle evidences itself once again in our physical bodies.  There is almost an addiction like a drug purchased on the illegal market that sings the praise of "radical change" within our bodies; producing a dependence and a need to continue the unhealthy acquisition of that which may even also be "natural", but all that is "natural" is not necessarily beneficial.

In like manner, the same model has contributed to our church selection and attendance.  We seek that which thrills us, that which produces the perceived results we desire, even if they are only temporary.  There is almost a refusal to investigate the actual cause of our sudden interest; and the longevity of the impact lasts only temporarily.  The books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all give us the parable of the soils.  The second soil mentioned is that which involves a bedrock.  A layer of rock hidden beneath the soil keeps the true fruit being evidenced.  The Bible states that after the seed is cast on this type of soil, there is an immediate result.  All looks wonderful and godly until the heat of the sun.  In the moment of testing, the lack of depth becomes evidenced with the withering of the plant.  "Christianity" can be based on a "fad".  We long to fit in, to keep up, to enjoy the moment, and we enjoy the temporary "high" of the moment; but there is nothing lasting about it.  Like a "magic pill", we run in masses to achieve the desired results of high adrenaline worship, entertaining message, and a lack of true accountability; all without real internal change from within.

The health craze will continue to develop that next "natural" pill, each one better than the last; but each one demanding an allegiance to itself, even promising financial gain from it.  We are still unaware of the lasting affects of the ingestion of all that is deemed "natural"; but it is probably that it will leave us just as unhealthy in our lifestyle as we were before we first opened the bottle.  Sadly, the church craze will continue as well; but the ending result is so much more tragic.  Living the lie of insincerity, our "change" is only skin deep; lasting until that next big trial; hearing one day, "depart from me, for I never knew you."  It is time to stop the dependence on the bottle!