Or perhaps a better animal to describe many believers would be an ostrich.
Dare 2 Share - "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9)
A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a rattrap.
Retreating to the farmyard the rat proclaimed the warning; "There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rat, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The rat turned to the pig and told him, "There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!" "I am so very sorry Mr. Rat," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers."
The rat turned to the cow. She said, "Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rattrap. I am in grave danger. Duh?"
So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's rat trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient...the chicken.
His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.
(Author unknown)
How many Christians do you know that are like the other barnyard animals? Offering help or giving assistance only when they believe it directly affects them, little knowing that the futures of believers are as intertwined as the root system of an aspen grove.
Or perhaps a better animal to describe many believers would be an ostrich. Supposedly, when they sense danger the silly birds bury their heads in the sand thinking that the danger will go away. So let me pull your head out for a minute and give you a picture of what hazards are on the horizon even as I write.
The average church in America sees less than 2 conversions per year. If this trend continues, within a few decades we'll be nothing but an irrelevant memory in the dusty annals of American religious history.
The majority of churches still refuse to cross denominational/racial lines for the sake of evangelism and unity in the Body. This petty persnickety pompous pretense is killing the reputation of Christ to the outside world.
We have every possible theme covered with our specialty Bibles (i.e. The Couples Bible, The Kids Bible, The Teen Bible, The Bible for Those Who Don't Fit Any Other Category etc.), yet how many people do you know who can quote more than 5 or 6 verses from memory??? We are on the verge of entering into a theological dark ages where the church will be thematically savvy but truth stupid.
The average church member gives less than 2% of his/her income. Meanwhile Starbucks and SUV sales abound. No wonder the church is having a hard time making a worldwide impact, especially when she can hardly pay the utility bill!
Those would be just a few of the clouds I see on the horizon, but I hope you get the picture. Time for us to turn the tides by being proactive with our Christianity before it is too late!
Questions:
1) What difference are you making in the world around you?
2) Will Jesus say 'well done' to you when you die? Why or why not?
3) Which of the above listed dangers do you feel God is calling you to address? What is the first thing you are going to do about it?
