“Jesus never comes next” – Vance Havner
Most people’s attics are full; dusty boxes of old clothes and shoes, pictures, broken toys, unfinished projects, –“stuff”. One of Webster’s definitions of “stuff” is, “worthless objects; refuse; junk”. For the most part, this “stuff” will never be used but remains there collecting dust and space; and pity the person who tries to get rid of it.
Why are most folks’ attics full of unused, and for the most part, useless “stuff”? Is it because the “stuff owner” attaches some form of security to the dusty and packed up “stuff”? It’s kept around just in case someday they might need it. Perhaps some of the stuff was valuable to the stuff-owner long ago, but now it’s out of sight and never thought about.
I wonder how many professing Christians have a religion that is made up of nothing more than religious “stuff”. Bibles that are never read – just dust collectors on a table. There may be a few religious books lying around, but they’re never read much less studied. Religious stuff-owners may even have pictures of Jesus, or angels, statues, crosses, or jewelry with verses of scripture. If a cross supported on a golden chain is worn for mere decoration, or to make the wearer feel pious, it becomes at best just “religious stuff”.
Religious “stuff collectors” amass more than tangible things into the attics of their lives. There may be religious music scattered around to stir up the dust of spiritual feelings, but there is no spiritual life as described in Scripture. Church may even be in their attics, — but just to pull out once in a while (Christmas, Easter, or some special occasion).
The really sad part about all this religious “stuff” is that too many people put the Lord Jesus in the same category. They would never deny that He exists, but He is like their old shoes and clothes, –stored away just in case they may need Him some day. They have reduced Him to a fire escape from hell and a 911 responder. In the reality of their lives, Christ is nice for an emergency, but He is not to interfere in their lives. Here’s a short Scriptural evaluation of their situation: this “religious stuff” is not Christianity and their God is not the God of the Bible.
These people are generally confused about the reality of the world they live in. They have a warped concept of Christianity. To them, it is just another religion. Perhaps to them it is the best religion because they were raised in a Christian environment, but, in their minds, Christianity is only one of many valid religions. After all, they reason within themselves, we have no right to judge other people’s religious views and interpretations.
This is why America is rapidly decaying – there are no longer solid foundational moral standards; the authority of the Bible is not absolute; God is not feared nor believed to be Sovereign, even if He does exist; Christ and His death are not necessary; the resurrection is a fable; and salvation, (if there is such thing), is not by grace through faith, but through sincere and good intentioned acts. Consequently, men are confused, discouraged, depressed, and hopelessly trying to find some hope in something. Perhaps they are trying to find hope in their “religious stuff”; dusting it sometimes, or merely rearranging it, or making a resolution each New Year’s Day to start using what has been shoved into the “attic”.
The above descriptions are that of an unbeliever. Paul writing to the believers at Ephesus reminded them of their former condition; “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). In the previous verses in Ephesians, Paul had reminded them that they had been dead, disobedient, depraved and doomed. However, God in Christ has bought them, sought them, and saved them through the person and work of Christ, not by works of their own but by His grace. Paul emphasized that the true believer is the product of the work of a sovereign God through His Son by His Spirit (Eph. 2:1-10).
So, away with this concept of being a worldly Christian who has a religious attic stocked full of “religious stuff”. It is about as biblical to talk about a worldly Christian as it is to talk about a heavenly devil. Let us flee to Christ in total submission, for only there will we find salvation, hope, peace, assurance and a proper view of this sin cursed world. There’s nothing more unstable and tyrannical than a heart where Self rules and the things of God are shoved into its “attic”.
“Christ will be all in all, or nothing at all.”
(Thomas Watson, 1860-1886)