Tumbleweed

Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tumbleweed has no home. Broken at the root, it is blown about.

It is like a Christian blown about by every wind of doctrine.

Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Why is tumbleweed blown about?  Why are people blown about?

There is no root. There is no stability. There is no participation in the body of Christ.  There is no home church.  Online church is not enough.   One reason online church is not enough is because every member in the body has a responsibility to give, as well as to receive.  You can’t serve a church that you watch through a computer screen or phone screen.  The church is made up of flesh-and-blood members and each one has a work to do and gifts to share, which work and gifts are given by the Lord.

I Corinthians 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.

 

12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

 

12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

It is necessary to find a full gospel church where you believe the Lord wants you and go there.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If a branch is broken off it can become like tumbleweed, just blown about and finally burned in the fire.

The Christian life might be likened to a workout.

You don’t go to the gym once every six months, at Easter and Christmas, and expect to leave with a six pack.

Chanel Wheeler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is the steady, daily application of regular routines and exercise that brings results.

The same is true in the Christian life.

The Christian life is not like a vacation you take for a couple weeks each year as you visit a special seminar but then ignore the local church for the rest of the year.

A one time seminar will bring benefit, but it won’t be the same as being part of a regular church, having regular church attendance, regular Bible study, regular private devotions, regular prayer, regular Bible reading, consistent giving of your tithes and offerings for the spreading of the gospel and consistent serving in the local church.

On-and-off Christianity is similar in practice to going to Vegas for a weekend trip, hitting the slot machines, and hoping for a win. No financial planner has ever advocated that as a way to wealth.

Yet somehow there is a thought that the things of God can be treated in a similar manner:  here a little meeting, there a little meeting, and maybe a couple times at Easter and Christmas. “A little dab will do you” is the attitude.

And then people wonder why they have trouble.

Any goal takes ongoing application, dedication, and consecration to the goal.  That is true in the natural whether it is a health goal, a professional goal, or a relationship goal.

That same consistent dedication is required in a relationship with God.  It takes no less dedication for a relationship with God than any other kind of goal or relationship.  The good thing is, God never lies, God is true, and God keeps his promises.

Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

This has to be the starting point.  If a person does not believe that God is, and that God will reward a person that seeks Him, then that person won’t even start the race.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the epistles in the New Testament, wrote this.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Addendum:

Here is an online church if you can’t find anything locally.