Are We Low-Information Christians? Part 2
Yesterday I posted indications 1-5 you or I could be a low-information Christian. Today we look at indications 6-10.
6. We don’t rely on the Holy Spirit. I loved compiling my book His Victorious Indwelling, a book full of great messages from past Christian men and women on the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Though it’s formatted as a daily devotional, readers tell me they read entry after entry in one sitting. Those writers from the past knew the Holy Spirit intimately. But in our day, it’s easy to simply rely on our own strength—and ultimately fail. The Holy Spirit in us never fails.
7. We keep a part of ourselves from God. Recently on Facebook I posted this Andrew Murray quote:
“The cause of the weakness of your Christian life is that you want to work it out partly, and to let God help you. And that cannot be. You must come to be utterly helpless, to let God work, and God will work gloriously.”
Low-information Christians resist abandoning all to God (for fear of what exactly?). I’ve found, as have many of you, that the more we give of ourselves to God, the more He gives of Himself to us.
8. We no longer allow the joy of the Lord to be our strength. I suspect many low-information Christians are joyless Christians. When circumstances are positive, they find it easy to be joyful. But when hard times come, they have no strength. Hard times come to us all, and it’s then that the high-information Christian can withstand whatever storms may come. Joylessness can also lead us into sin. Thomas Aquinas wisely said:
“No one can live without delight and that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasure.”
9. Fellowship with other believers becomes an option, not a necessity. For many Christians, church is a place to go every Sunday and perhaps even for a midweek service or home group. But the church, as God sees it, is a living organism in which all believers are intimately connected and each person has an opportunity to minister to others. As times get tough, it will be Christians who are part of a solid fellowship of believers who will remain standing, strengthening each other.
10.We’ve lost our hunger for the Word…and thus for the Lord Himself. Low-information Christians have dust on their Bibles. The very reason they’re low-information Christians is that they don’t feed on the Word. What happens to sheep who refuse to eat? They become sick and die. A sign of sickness is, in fact, a lack of desire to eat. The Word is chock full of nutrients that nourish us. We neglect feeding on it at our own risk.
Those are just ten indications that we may be a low-information Christian. I’m sure I’ve missed some others (lack of believing prayer, unforgiveness, self-centeredness?). You may be thinking of some right now. Feel free to share in the comments section.
The tragedy of being a long term low-information Christian is that we miss out on so much God has for us. More joy, more security, deeper relationships, more vision for our lives, more ministry to others—and on and on. The sweetest water is at the deepest part of the well. If we continue to skim off the top, we have no reason to complain that we’re not spiritually satisfied. Low-information Christians are rarely satisfied Christians. And if they are, that’s a danger signal in itself.
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Watch for my next post: The God of the Desperate.
