Those that visit Team Swap regularly know that cycling is the sport of choice amongst several of the directors of Team Swap. This is the time of year when cyclist go to the road, winter is turning to spring and it is time to begin the annual migration to the hills, flats, and sprints of our local roads. Cycling is currently at it’s most popular in America since the early 1900's. There is one individual that is responsible for that - Lance Armstrong.
Without Lance Armstrong cycling in the US would still be largely unnoticed by a majority of the population. Cycling is a fad interest sport. People are aware of it, they follow it, and they know about it, but what comes when Lance Armstrong retires. If no American cyclist quickly appears and takes Lance Armstrong’s place, which is virtually impossible due to the story of Lance’s diagnosis, treatment, and recovery from cancer, then cycling will drop off the national radar once again. One of the friends of Team Swap commented last week that after Lance wins his sixth Tour De France that cycling will disappear from coverage and OLN (the Outdoor Life Network) will start covering curling.
That may be a bit drastic, but it is not completely unfounded in fact. We are a fad nation. We focus and obsess on something or someone for a period of time, and then move to the next fad. Sometimes fads last a few years, sometimes they only last a few weeks, but we are always cycling (no pun intended) our attention on and off of trends.
This same kind of pattern can develop in our spiritual life as well. We focus on a study, or a program, or a teacher, or a trend for a bit and then after a while we move on. Over the last few years we have seen Promise Keepers, Weigh Down, The Prayer of Jabez, and The Left Behind Series, all get national attention for a while, and though they all still exist, and are functioning, they get far less attention and press now then they did just a few years ago.
The return to family values after 9/11 was also the same. Right after the attack, church attendance soared, families prayed, people refocused there attention to their families, and nine months later life was almost back to where it was before. Sure some people changed permanently, some accepted Christ for the first time, and those are great things, but the majority of people went right back to their regular lives, and focusing on worldly things soon after the initial shock cleared.
Currently there is a nationwide focus on The Passion Of The Christ. It is a great movie, but in a few weeks the national focus will shift and the buzz of the nation will change to something else. I think that there will be some people that see The Passion and will accept Christ, but they will not be the majority. The majority of impact of The Passion will be inside the body of Christ. People that have faded from a Christ focused life will renew their commitment and rededicate their lives to Christ. There will also be a large number of people that decide to stop playing church, and begin to take their commitments seriously within the body. These are all wonderful things. Once the body heals on the inside, then the church will be better prepared to minister to the outside world.
It would be a great thing if the permanent impact of The Passion was that the body of Christ gets a renewed birth and unity of focus on the work of God. We at Team Swap are praying for just that. However, if the past continues to repeat itself there will be a swell of interest, a short term change, and then a return to previous lifestyle choices.
Our challenge to you, the Christian, and even to our seeker friends that visit our site, is to make any changes the result from viewing The Passion permanent. If you are convicted to change, to confess, to repent, then do these things, and then do not return to your old life. If the body is changed permanently, it will draw a lost and hurting world to it, and it will be used mightily for the glory of God.
God wants to launch a new and vibrant relationship between yourself and Him. He wants you to be used successfully within the body. To do these things there must be a repentance of sin, and a focus on doing His will instead of yours. We can no longer allow unconfessed sin to come between us and the Father of the Universe. Once you are saved, or restored, then move forward and permanently impact the world for God. It is time for the entire body of Christ to be on fire for Him, not just the small percentage that usually does the work. Ten to fifteen percent participation is not acceptable if we call ourselves saved, we should be fully devoted and focused on the will of the Father.
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Joshua 24:14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Go see The Passion Of The Christ, in fact see it a few times. Take your friends, take your neighbors, take your family, and let God use this movie to change you permanently. Learn just how much Christ loves you, just how much your sins hurt Him, and then change where you can live a restored and forgiven life in the body. Allow God to get your fire stirred and rekindled and then set your world on fire for God and no longer wait for someone else to do the work. Launch out and permanently be the human hands and feet of Jesus.
