Sorry Ben!

I read recently about a guy named Ben. He is a successful businessman, friend of Hollywood stars, estranged family man… and empty.

I know what you’re thinking, “Another poor soul who has never heard about Jesus.” But that would be inaccurate.

You see, Ben grew up going to church. In fact, he not only grew up going to church but spent three years at seminary learning all about the Bible and God and stuff… right up until he lost his faith.

“How could that happen?” we wonder. How can someone with all of that church experience end up walking away from God?

The person relaying Ben’s story didn’t mention any one specific event but apparently it had to do with knowing all about God without actually
having a relationship with God.

The problem is that we’ve made our involvement with the church too academic without emphasizing the practical application of living it out!

Does sitting with a group of people and learning about brain surgery qualify you to operate? No. What if you also read books about it? No. What if you got together with like-minded friends and talked about it? No. No. No. But that’s what we do in the church.

We make following Jesus too academic!

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” ~ James 1:22

I don’t know all the particulars of Ben’s upbringing or his experience with the church, but I suspect that he didn’t see Jesus lived out. I don’t say that flippantly or as a judgment. I say it because I’ve seen it in enough churches to believe it is a wide-spread issue.

When all we do is show up once a week to sit and learn about Jesus but fail to live it out, we are not only fooling ourselves but giving others the impression that God is not real.

Only when we live it out does it become real!