Is Our Faith More Than Just Dust In The Wind?

The rock band Kansas once composed and performed a song called “Dust in the Wind” singing that “Nothing lasts forever, but the earth and sky,” being either unaware, or unbelieving of the words associated with Isaiah 55:10-11  that poetically communicates and depicts both the power and sufficiency of God’s Word of Truth. Yet we faithful believers must acknowledge that our Christian community of the “church” is not simply just countercultural and under attack, but in many ways arguably fading away into non-existence, as societies across the globe continue to prioritize and pursue the value of self-sufficient independence, whilst forgetting and not giving the biblical principle of respectful inter-dependence a second thought.

Author of “Going Solo”,  Eric Klinenberg shares factual statics of this phenomenon (briefly discussed in this article).  This insidiously sinful disposition has been immortalized by none other than “The Chairman of the Board” himself, in “I Did It My Way”, and it has been embodied in the well-known poem “Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley. It has even made significant inroads to people who identify themselves as “Christian” yet have no qualms denying God’s design, plan, and call for us to actively participate as a member in a local church family as they see no need for it any longer and draw up a laundry list of other rationalizations to justify their anti-biblical position. They have become the proverbial disillusioned “eye” that says to the “hand” - “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) and then subsequently cuts their own selves off from the vine (John 15:5) only to find themselves slowly wilting away like a dead and dried out flower in a vase waiting for someone to simply throw it away.

We Christians are called by God to bring the gospel to global societies that are growing ever-increasingly isolated and independent; while as parents we are in the process of evolving our parenting strategies to effectively raise the “iGeneration” where mere infants are learning to swipe and tap their way through life, at the peril of potentially stunting the development of their own necessary socialization skills in dealing with other members of society.

We disciples of Christ are called to live in community with one another as part of a local church family to worship God, learn, and help one another grow more Christ-like as we move from independence to inter-dependence, selfishness to selflessness, and from spiritual childlikeness to spiritual maturity.

For Christians, this then begs the following obvious questions:
• Am I currently living out this mandate as the Bible describes? If not, why not? (O God Forgive Us)
• What exactly is the “kingdom of God” and what does it mean for me to be a part of it?  Let us whisper together now….
• Am I growing and manifesting spiritual fruits or is my faith in a SLOW FADE?
• Is it ok for me to keep things as they are, or do I find myself compelled to make some changes?

What are your thoughts?  Let’s discuss. Thank you for your comments!!