Producing and Consuming: Spiritual Fatheads in the Church

I’m studying business in college, and I’ve learned that at the most basic level, the market consists of two parties: producers and consumers. In a single transaction, all parties will fall into one of these two categories. The ideal situation is that one produces while he or she also consumes. Meaning that one person gives back to society while they consume the resources provided by it. One might argue that this contributed to current condition of our economy. Too much spending. Too much consuming. Not enough producing.

I think you can apply this methodology to the church as well. While I don’t mean to imply that a church is a business, the parallel can certainly be drawn between the two.

I think in most churches the overwhelming majority of members in the church are simply consumers. They sit in the pews at church and constantly consume resources. They come to all the free meal events and sit in the pews on sunday mornings but they aren’t active within the church. They aren’t serving. They aren’t producing.

My friend and mentor Scott likes to say that people tend to be spiritual sponges. They sit in pews and soak up all the messages, music, and teaching, and become “spiritual fatheads”. Their cup is full, yet they do not wish to pour themselves out into others. It’s a very broken cycle that we have created in the modern church.

I see this a lot in my own church. I see a lot of people who come for the free meals and free Jesus, but don’t come for much else. There’s no cycle. There’s no giving back. And I’m not talking about tithing. Its more then that. There’s more to serving your church then giving it money. Its about being involved. Lyndale, who’s a pastor at a local church in this area, put it this way: “It’s time to get off your duff and do some stuff.”

I like it when it’s put that way. Makes a lot of sense.

I think that this is the biggest issue that faces the church today. Its such a challenge to get members involved. We live in a world where laziness is the order of the day, and we are brought up to believe that by being successful and working hard that we don’t have to do any Kingdom work. That following Jesus is all about kicking back and waiting for the eventual mortal death to come so we can spend an eternity in heaven...

Boy, have we got it wrong.

Jesus doesn’t want us waiting around for Him to come back. He wants us to go out and remind everybody.

This is the part where I normally challenge you to go out and do stuff and not just sit and soak, but I am not sure that I am doing everything that I can to be a producer, and not just a consumer. To give back.

Think about it.

Wishing I Couldn't Backspace

Writing and I have always had a love/hate relationship. I tend to write a good bit but I tend to cheat on my relationship with writing by spending time with the backspace key. The result is usually myself deleting paragraphs and paragraphs of stuff that I have written. Stuff that will never see the light of day.

What if life had a backspace? I asked my friend Sarah Grace this exact question just now and she claims that it wouldn’t be the same. My other friend Ashley laughed when I asked this question, and said that life would be a lot easier. Both are fairly correct. But I think life would be a lot more boring.

A big part of life and growing up is learning from your mistakes. If you could go back and start a situation, experience, or decision over when you make a mistake, then what would you learn? Its like a kid who never gets disciplined. He or she never actually learns anything and continues to make the same mistakes, because there aren’t any negative consequences.

I think writing can be the same way. If I write a bunch and write whatever because I know I can delete it, then am I going to give it my best effort when I’m writing? Probably not. If what I wrote had more permanence, then I’ll naturally write better stuff.

For this reason I’ve been trying to write more with pen and paper. I carry around a moleskine notebook with me and when I have a though I’ll write it down. Its helpful because its more permanent. Its not just something I can write and then delete if I don’t like it. You scratch it out, but looks bad and wastes paper. For all intents and purposes, everything I write with my pen is staying on the page, and I like that.

I’m hoping that getting into the habit of not being able to erase what I wrote will translate over to my writing on the computer.

Maybe I’ll write better (and more often).

Something to Put Here.

After everything that’s happened in the last month and a half I thought I would have the time to sit down and write a whole bunch but that never happened. I decided that instead of spending all of my free time reading and writing that I would go out and live life and hopefully actually have some things to write about.

I’ve noticed through all of my readings and studies that the best writers are the ones that tend to be proactive about life and more focused on living life then writing about it. I think if we spend too much time writing about life, then we miss out on the things that life is all about. Our writing would probably become dull.

I mean seriously, when you sit down at a desk and read stuff all day and type mindlessly into a computer, then what kind of life are you living?

After everything I went through in the last month, I thought that sitting down and writing about it would be a great way for me to deal with it, but it left me wanting. So I stopped writing for a bit and focused on living, and it worked.

It’s much easier to deal with the past when you are focused on the present and preparing for the future. Rather then writing about everything that happened, I decided to go out and live life and maybe finding something better to write about rather then what happened.

You are reading the result right now. You are reading the result of my self-discovery.

Through a group of amazing friends I learned that life is far too valuable just sit and wonder about everything that’s happening. You have to jump in with both feet, otherwise everything just passes you by.

Not about to let that happen.

Go and Sin No More

The other day I read from John 8. This chapter contains a story (John 8:2-12) that’s about an adulteress that get’s dragged out in front of Jesus and they basically ask Jesus what they are supposed to do with the girl. The Jewish laws say that they are to stone her.

The next thing that happens is awesome. Jesus basically ignores them. He stoops down and starts writing in the dirt with his finger. (John 8:6). But of course, they don’t give up. They persist in questioning Him about the issue.

That’s when Jesus stands up and says, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Basically, they all leave her alone after this. Then Jesus basically tells her that He doesn’t condemn her, and to “go forth and sin no more.” (John 8:11).

When I read this story, I couldn’t help but think of a good friend of mine who told me about somethings she did in the past. She was waiting for the condemnation, but I didn’t give it. When she wondered why, I told her that if Jesus doesn’t condemn you, then how can I?

I think we are very quick to condemn people for the sins they have committed, rather then showing them grace and forgiveness. Why are we like that? Why are we so self righteous that we insist on condemning people for this sin or that sin when we ourselves are in need of condemnation?

I think we should follow the example of Jesus. We need to show grace and forgiveness, rather then condemnation. He doesn’t condemn people for what they have done, so what right do we have?