Don’t be just a Sunday Christian

You may be attending a church on a Sunday (or Saturday) but there has to be much more. God requires more than a weekly nod to Him at the local assembly.

There are “Christians” who cannot even make it to church once a week. “Oh, I have to work,” they say. Truth is if they gave up the job, God would provide a better one – without the Sunday work. The key is in the scripture: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Jesus said that, and anyone wanting the blessings of God would do well to have it as a motto. Eric Liddell did.

In the 1924 Paris Olympics, Liddell was scheduled to run in the 100m (his best chance) for Great Britain on a Sunday. It was the pinnacle of his athletic career, but he refused to run on what for him was the Sabbath. He wouldn’t budge from his principles, and had to enter the 400m instead. He got the gold medal in record time, surely because he honoured God rather than men. Liddell took his dedication a step further. Shortly before WW2 ended he died young in a prison camp in China, where he had gone to serve God.

Switching sports, a golfer doesn’t qualify for the US Open by an apprenticeship of showing up at the green once-weekly. He “seeks first” to be a top golfer, and to achieve it he’s out there every day on the grass, practising to achieve the goal. Then he gets the rewards.

So it is for the Christian. He or she must seek first the kingdom of God to enjoy “all these things” that God wants to add. It’s hypocrisy to sing “I surrender all” without truly doing that. A weekly appearance at the church isn’t surrendering all. Why should God get the left-over crumbs from the cake of an oh-so-busy life? He ought to be the meat on the plate, not the crumbs.

Dear Christian, are you occupied with the kingdom of God? Or is it career, sport, TV, socializing, partying? When you leave this world will you have done anything that may have changed the eternal destiny of others? Will you have spoken to others about Jesus, or given out tracts which do the talking for you?

Take stock; is your life doing anything to further the kingdom of God? He wants you as a full-timer not a part-timer.

That means thinking about God daily; examining every action, every thought. It means taking every decision, every choice, to Him.

The great Apostle Paul said: “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul knew that death is just a gate which opens to something better. Christians talk of heaven - but few are in a hurry to get there!

Are you living for Christ, like Paul, or are you trying to hang onto a life which isn’t much different to that of the unsaved people around you?

The Bible says we must all give account of our lives to God. If you live for Christ you will have no fear of death and judgment day. Trust and faith are important, yes, but the Book of James says faith without works is dead.