CONVENIENCE STORE CHRISTIANS

According to a recent news report, nearly fifty percent of children in the U.S. are overweight. The report talks about the healthcare crisis that will be created by this. Much of the blame for the startling increase in weight gain goes to two causes: first, the decreasing amount of exercise and second, the easy availability of so much “junk” food.

When I was a kid we did not have many fast-food restaurants or convenience stores—there were no 7-Elevens in the neighborhood. I remember going to a gas station when that was exactly what it was—a place where you bought gas or had your car repaired. If you were lucky, they might have a soda machine in the back somewhere and Cokes were a dime! There were large and small grocery stores and that was where you bought food and the occasional candy bar or packet of gum.

Today, gas stations sell everything from coffee to ice cream, from soda to beer, from hats and CD’s to every kind of candy bar, cookies and many kinds of hot food. It is one-stop shopping, and it has made America’s rush to get things done and go places so easy, so handy, that our desire for convenience has begun to have some unintended consequences.

Whoever thought that our desire to do things quicker, easier and cheaper would end up contributing to the decline of health in our country? As America struggles to know what to do with this impending health crisis, I see a crossover into the church world to what I call “convenience store Christianity.”

Many Christians today are victims of a type of convenience store thinking. They want to rush in, get something good, and get on their way—quickly. The church, the teaching of His Word, the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry was never intended to be a convenience store—it was intended to be like a well-balanced health food store that contributes to the overall well-being of a person.

A recent survey indicates that 20 million American evangelical Christians no longer attend church, one of the symptoms of the growth of “convenience store Christianity.” Allegedly these people have given up on the local church. I have to wonder how many of these dispirited believers have embraced the convenience store spirit.

Let me get this off my chest before we go further. I don’t have a problem with the “contemporary church” style that has developed in the last ten to fifteen years. While I may find it difficult at times to go to a sixty-minute church service that appears to be a copy of somebody else’s success pattern, with music that’s too loud and preaching that’s too short, I accept it for what it is—it’s the church style of today. There is nothing inherently righteous about long or short church services just as there is nothing unrighteous about preachers wearing or not wearing a tie. And there is nothing necessarily wrong with some of today’s boring music. The church of Jesus Christ is a living entity and what was wrong with the church of yesterday caused it to self-correct. Likewise, what is wrong with the church of today will be corrected by the life that is in the church. Instead of wasting time and energy getting upset at the church and wishing for the “good old days,” let’s focus on being the people God intends us to be…and now I can go on.

The greatest danger of the “convenience store spirit” is not for the church but for the believer. You may not like what I’m about to say but my going to church, which I faithfully do, is not the most important part of my spiritual life. I go to church because I know it is right; because I need to be with fellow believers; because I need to worship corporately; and because I am submitted to my pastor and his leadership. The largest contributor to my spiritual life and growth, however, is my personal devotional life and this is where the enemy will attack even the strongest with the spirit of “convenience store” thinking.

The whole weight of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is that you cannot rush spiritual growth and formation; it takes time and we are taught to be patient and to grow. The natural world around us teaches us the same thing. There is a season for planting, a season for watering, a season for harvesting, and a season for renewal.

There are some times when all of us will “tweet” God with a request because of our circumstances, but that must not be the totality of our prayer life. We earn the right to have our “tweets” heard because we have developed a relationship with Him, we have learned to pray, we have learned to “go into our room and close the door” (Matthew 6:6), meaning we are spending time with Him.

“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14 NKJV).

If Jesus is the lord of your life and your best friend then you need to have some quality time with Him daily. Don’t be a “convenience store Christian” when it comes to the time you spend with Him—the consequences are not healthy.