Wake Up and Smell the Sulphur! (Article from July 2012)

Wake Up and Smell the Sulphur!

I keep thinking about that the real danger for followers of Christ face is not blatant sin and temptation, but little choices and compromises we make daily.  We reassure ourselves that we aren’t as sinful as other people, and while we slowly veer away from Jesus without even realizing it.

In The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, senior demon Screwtape congratulates his nephew Wormwood that his young “patient” (a Christian) has started hanging out with new intellectual, worldly friends and is fitting in with their circle.  But he warns Wormwood not to move too fast, lest the man wake up to the way he has wandered away from the Enemy (God).  Screwtape continues:

For this reason I am almost glad to hear that he is still a churchgoer and a communicant.  I know there are dangers in this; but anything is better than that he should realize the break he has made with the first months of his Christian life.  As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago.

Screwtape notes that a patient might only have a hazy uneasiness about how they’ve been doing lately, instead of a clear understanding of sin that can be repented of.  In fact, when we have this vague sense of guilt, the last thing we want to do is pray.  Or go to church.  Or read the Bible.  Or anything that causes us to focus on God.  Guilt isn’t comfortable at all.

Church at risk

Honestly, I am afraid not only for myself, but for my church.  There’s a pandemic of apathy in the church in America and even right here at SCFBC.  I believe Satan would be delighted for our worship services to be filled with Christians doing their “duty” of coming to church, singing songs, and bowing their heads, all the while looking forward to getting back to their lives and activities.  While this indifference has become so common that it seems normal, we do not have to give in to it, or take it lying down! 

What can we do?

The only way to determine our true state of spiritual health is by unreservedly asking the Holy Spirit to show us anything we need to change (Psalm 139).  We need to admit that those little compromises are sin, and let ourselves feel the full weight of how we have hurt God and ourselves.  We need to ask God to forgive us.  He doesn’t expect us to fix things on our own—he longs to help us. 

We as a congregation also need to acknowledge where we’ve veered off course.  We cannot blame our attitude on the music style, or the preaching, or the time of day, or anything else—we have to step up and take responsibility for our part.  By leaning on the Holy Spirit, we will experience peace and pleasure like we’ve nothing we’ve ever known.

I pray that this process will not only help SCFBC to be spiritually healthy and vital, but that individuals will wake up to the dangerous position they are in.  Screwtape concludes, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”