So if you think you are standing firm............

I am so thankful that I live in one of the worlds finest cities. As I walk and drive about I see incredible buildings and so much history. Famous Universities, a castle, a palace, a parliament and the Royal Mile but to name a few highlights.

If you stand at the top of the mound and look over Prince's Street you suddenly become aware of many church buildings. Most of these building have towering steeples and a real presence. My mind wonders and I imagine Edinburgh in the 1800's. It must have been like a massive building site with so many houses, churches and public buildings being built. I image the thoughts of the stone masons as they worked week after week and in some cases year and year in all weathers building another place of worship.

What would it have been liked being a Christian in Edinburgh back then? I guess there would have been a real feeling of "winning." New churches appearing all the time. More worshippers. More coming to Christ. I guess they never thought a day would come when alot of these buildings are no longer churches. Some have been knocked down. Some are used as shops or even a climbing centre. Alot are no longer bursting at the seams but rather have an aging congregation that is dwingling every year. Did it happen over night?

Then that verse in 1st Corinthians comes to mind, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall." (1st Corinthians 10.12 NIV). Over the years I have had the honour of sharing my faith in many different churches. The Free Church of Scotland. The Church of Scotland, The Baptist Church, The Brethren, The Evangelical Church, The Assemblies of God, The Methodist, The Scottish Episcopal and many independants. I love listening to the history of each of these movements. Nearly all started off as extremely radical. Out there for God moving the boundaries. Yet some really seem to have drifted from their early roots. Tradition often replaces new life. Some are maybe still celebrating what God did back then forgeting He is never static and today is doing a different thing.

So the challenge for us? I see God speaking to us and holding us accountable in three main ways in His word. Firstly, on a personal basis. We need to learn to hang onto Him on a daily basis and not to allow a slow drift to happen. To daily come to His word and presence. Without feeding ourselves spiritual food our spirits will be extremely weak.

Secondly, He speaks to us as a church. Let us not be so unwise to think that it is impossible for the same thing to happen to us. Let us have our pride in our God and not our movement being the best. Let's be those who faithful pray for our leaders and trust God to speak through them.

Finally, God speaks to cities and towns. This greatly concerns me. As I travel about I hear many ideas. Some say pray and revival with come. Others we need to start sharing the Gospel again. Yet another, "It's Friendship evangelism." "It's hearing the Holy Spirit for others". My thoughts? As we begin to drift away, the first thing that happens is we lose the passion for sharing His love with others. Oh we might still go to church, maybe in a leadership role but we just don't have that same desire to see people won for Christ. We justify this by saying it's not my gift or I am busy doing this other good thing..........and another generation dies.

Let us not go into a guilt trip but rather let us pray that today and every day we might be able to grasp God's heart for the lost.

Prayer: Lord, help us to CLING to you daily. Not to be distracted by shiny things all around us. Please share your heart for the lost with us. May our generation be a winning generation in Jesus Name.