Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Empty calories

Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching (2 Timothy 4:2).

Empty calories—these are calories that fill us up but provide little nutritional value. Soda pop and frosting are examples of empty calories—fun to consume, but they contribute very little to keeping our bodies healthy.

Have you ever attended the Church of the Empty Calorie? There are many of them in the United States. They can make you feel good, but they frequently miss the opportunity to really nourish your soul.

The Church of the Empty Calorie likes praise songs. Praise songs are typically filled with words like "I love You Lord," or "God is good." I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with such songs—but a steady diet of them is like a steady diet of frosting. Our singing to God can be much more diverse. Songs where we confess our sins and beg God for mercy. Songs where we ask Jesus for help in resisting temptation. Songs where we ask the Spirit of God to give us patience, strength and hope as we face the dark days of our lives. Many great hymns are based on passages of the Bible and help us to understand what they mean; such songs are like little sermons in themselves. Singing to God can be much more than just making joy-filled music.

The Church of the Empty Calorie usually offers sermons that help you feel good about yourself. And certainly Jesus wants you to know that He loves you. But look at the Bible—there is much more to Scripture than the words "God is love" (1 John 4:8). We are sinners—we need to be reminded that, by nature, we anger God instead of pleasing Him. Only when we realize this do we truly appreciate how wonderful it is that Jesus offered Himself in death to make atonement for our sins. And the primary reason God sends His Spirit to fill our hearts is to help us live lives of loving service to God and each other; our being happy is just the joyous side effect. Sermons should explore all the riches of God’s revelation, and not be restricted to a humanistic "I’m okay, you’re okay" type of message.

The Church of the Empty Calorie can be fun to attend, but it often fails to satisfy the needs of your spirit. Your body can’t live on empty calories; neither can your soul. If you find yourself craving something more substantial than you’ve been getting from attending church, contact me at the email address linked below—I’d be happy to suggest other places you might try for a satisfying worship experience.

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