SEPTEMBER 19, 2025 ~ FROM A PASTOR'S HEART

SEPTEMBER 19 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

It seems to be the goal of modern Christianity to be acceptable in the world. We do everything we can to be "relevant," i.e., fit in to the culture. We try to do everything to look like the world, so we will be accepted by the world. We have changed our doctrine because it offends the non believers. We have changed our worship to look and sound like the world, so they will like it. We even change our times to gather to fit into the world’s schedule, it must fit within the framework of our busy worldly schedules and time frames...we gather if and when it is convenient. I have always found the practice of doing surveys of lost people to find out what they want from the church to be a strange and even unbiblical practice. We should be asking the Lord what He wants the church to be, not the world.

We are called to be a peculiar people. That means if we are going to be a biblical church, we will look more like our Lord than we look like the world. Jesus was not accepted, nor did He fit in to the world. He said that as the world hated and rejected Him, they would do the same to us if we followed Him. The Scripture tells us to be cautious when everyone speaks well of us, when everyone is happy with us and when we are acceptable to everyone. The church has been called to be distinctly different from the culture we are in, we are to be, "the salt and the light." We were created to make a difference, not just be another social organization that fits in with the world's ungodly ways. The world will certainly see us as fools...they will not accept us...they will stand against us...they will pressure us to conform. They did this to our Jesus, why would we think it will be any different for us if we are His church? Why would we want it any different?

Please share your thoughts.