Give Me Just Enough Jesus To Get Through To Next Week

The above was a line our pastor, David Gruhn of Trinity Watseka, shared with us Sunday morning. It was one of those well put lines that really caught my attention. Kind of rolled around in my brain for a few moments, causing me to miss some of what he said next.

It was stated in context of how many worshippers come to church with the intent of getting their “booster shot” for the week. Live life as usual Monday through Saturday without another thought for Jesus, attend church on Sunday and get a healthy dose of Good and start all over again.

Many of us, including a lot of us “good” Christians, go to church on Sunday to derive personal benefit. We’ll say things like, “I didn’t get much out of the service today” or “I really like the music there” or “Participating in ministry there fulfills me”. Except that we kind of miss the point about coming together as a body of believers one day a week. In fact, many of us miss what being a Christian is all about all together.

It’s not about becoming a better person. It’s not about receiving blessing upon blessing. It’s not about getting peace and joy beyond understanding. It’s not even about our salvation. It’s about acknowledging and adoring a King who reigns over all, loving and serving Him because He is a King. Being a Christian isn’t about us, it’s about God. That He saves us from eternal damnation and blesses us with the gifts of His good pleasure is but a side note to what’s really important.

I think the reason so many Christians fail in their walk (and so give lots of fodder to those who love to shoot holes in ‘religion’) is that their faith is self-focused. Everything is about what God has done in our lives, how we see things so much more clearly now, how our lives have meaning … all of which is true, but it’s not about us. It’s about Him.

And we need to make sure that is what we are teaching our children.

God is God, and I am not. Your child’s focus needs to be on God and not on what God does for him (thus making himself more important than his focus on God).
God blesses your child when he is obedient to God’s Word. The blessing is a result of God-centeredness and not because of your child’s deserving nature.
God is a King, and kings want to be served. Your child is His servant. God is not there to serve your child.

Our children’s social development centers on self-perspective. Add to that the daily bombardment of messages that say, “It’s all about me” (even among Christian publications). We surely have an uphill battle in turning our children's minds and hearts toward God.

At the end of his sermon, Pastor Dave encouraged us to ask ourselves: What did I give away to Jesus today? That sounds like a good question to motivate our children to answer. As we sit around the dinner table, or as we tuck them into bed, let’s ask them that.

“Honey, what did you give away to Jesus today?”

(Thanks, Pastor Dave, for letting me 'borrow' some of your best sermon lines!)