God Permitting

Sometimes our investment in a movie or TV series just doesn’t pay off, but we hang in there thinking that we might eventually get something out of it. More and more my husband and I will look at one another and ask, “Are you getting anything out of this?” and then we change the channel. No doubt this will sound sacrilegious to some, but this same thought process is showing up on my religious landscape. I can’t help but wonder if other believers are leaving the Sunday school class, or the worship service, and asking themselves and one another, “Are you getting anything out of this?” That being said, we can’t totally fault teachers and preachers for serving the milk of the Word when people of faith won’t change the channel. The writer of Hebrews lays the responsibility at the feet of the individual for not leaving elementary teachings about Christ. “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so” (Heb 6:1-3 NIV).