I am thankful that God has seen fit to let me be born, raised, live and serve in the Bible belt. It is true beyond a doubt that people live differently down here. Southerners are proud of our heritage, even some of the stains that are on it because it shows how God's grace can lead to change even the hardest and malevolent hearts and ways of life.
Part of that heritage is our "religion" just about everyone I know had a drug problem coming up, they were drug to church by parents and grandparents alike, and we are thankful that we don't have to go more than 3 miles to find a church.(This is probably because many would not go if they had to drive any further)
Lately I have been reflecting on the heritage of my family, my church and our convention. In each area I see a great legacy of faith taught by forebears to those who would come behind them and I am thankful. It was with this on my heart and mind that God decided to challenge with a question that was first preserved thousands of years ago, and ai had to share it with others because it has consumed me over the last 12 hours.
As I was reading my Bible last night after church I stumbled onto Hebrews 5, which not a part of my reading plan, In fact I have no idea how it came up as the passage I was last on in my Logos App. When I got to verse 12 I was stopped dead in my tracks by the idea of stagnation in faith and knowledge of God. It was as I pondered the context of this passage that I realized so many correlations between 1st century Hebrewws and 21st century Southern American Christians. Think with me on this now.
1st Century Jews Have ----------------------21st Century Southern Christians have
a legacy of faith of the patriarachs.----- A legacy of faith from parents/grandparents
Experience with miracles of God.------------------God's miraculous provision
The temple with them.-------------------------------A church on every corner
Access to religious education.----------------Even better access to religious education
Saadly though the similarities do not end there. Just as the Hebrews were admonished for not being ready for theological meat in due to their lack of knowledge, concern, and devotion, we here that buckle the Bible belt so to speak, seem to suffer the same problems. We have been given great blessings by God to stir us to a deeper more fruitful relay ship with Him but have continually like the Jews of the 1st century seem to have traded what is best for what is easiest and ultimately unfruitful.
So my question for all who would read this and myself is, are we ready for the spiritual meat that God desires for us so that we might be better laborers in a field that is white unto the harvest, and if not what are you going to do about it?
Think about it, if we saw a 4 year old sucking formula from a bottle we would think that he should be way past that, and look poorly on his parents. When will we look at ourselves and realize we should be way past the milk of the gospel and get to the meat and realize it is not our Father's fault that we aren't already, but ours, because Scripture is clear that He would give us meat if only we were ready to tolerate it.
