Every sound echoed in the gymnasium of my church. It was brightly lit and there was always the smell of a potluck that seemed to complement the orange carpeted floors. It was the arena for boxcar racing tournaments, basketball games, over-nighters, and any other event that was too big or messy for the cave-like sanctuary. It sat at the bottom of a long staircase that extended from the foyer. This was my home church and it is where I came to find Christ. It was a summer Sunday morning and my Nazarene Sunday-school teacher spoke gentle words of God’s love for us. I don’t quite remember exactly what she said during her short sermon, but in my 7 year old mind something clicked. I discovered a love that I had never felt before. She invited us to the front alters to accept Jesus Christ into our lives. I remember feeling tingly inside as a lump in my throat became larger and larger. My older brother sat next to me and I knew that he was feeling the same. He nudged me with his elbow to suffice it to say, “Let’s go up there.” I followed him to the child-sized alters and we both prayed the prayer of a desperate, soft-hearted child. We asked Jesus Christ to enter into our hearts and to become our Lord and Savior. I cried tears of joy.
I faithfully attended the same mid-sized suburban church with my family in Colorado Springs for my entire adolescence. It goes without saying, church is not a new thing for me. It has been a huge part of my life.
Being a “church kid” does funny things to those of us who have grown up under its supportive wings. We are sharpened by the consistency and receive structure and community, yes; but there are many pit falls from which we should guard our hearts. Over time we can become calloused. We are in danger of becoming numb. Apathy, complacency, boredom and cynicism are the scavengers that taunt us at our gate. Some Christians, though, have the opposite story. They may have found the Lord's saving grace after sixty years of denying Christ. For them church is a newfound revelation, but they deal with some different issues because of their past without it.
There could be an entire book explaining the sociological, psychological, and theological differences between a “church kid” and a kid who grew up on the outside. So I’ll leave that discussion for someone else… perhaps someone more educated. What I want to examine here is one of the issues that we all face as Christians, no matter what our upbringing was. I have witnessed this same issue in new believers and in "church kids" alike:
Sometimes we misconstrue our role and God’s role in our relationship with Him.
That is to say, we often have a misguided approach to His throne. We come to God with prayers that often contradict the words of the Bible. We, as Christians, have a tendency to pray from the wrong place in our hearts. We often pray one-sided prayers. With an unrighteous overdependence on God’s mighty hand, we lazily forget that our relationship with Him requires action on our end. Please do not misunderstand the point, Dear Reader. Our motives are (generally speaking) pure, and our God is indeed capable of ALL things, but we mustn’t ask Him to do the very things He’s commanded of us. This is a problem that can stifle our relationship with Him which leads to a slew of other issues. I want us to be aware of the gravity of this danger. An incorrect and un-Biblical understanding of God can seriously hurt our relationship with Him and I will not allow it.
