only 8% of Christians are considered fully devoted followers of Christ.
the term used was that they were 3rd chair Christians. ill explain that in a second. but only 8% of all claimed Christians in America are actually fully devoted Christians. there was this illustration with chairs that explained it well:
1st chair people:
- do not know who God is
- they do not have a relationship with God
- they are not apart of Christianity in any way
2nd chair people:
- people who have the title of Christian
- people who go to church, but only take up a seat
- people who are observers, not doers
- people who go for social reasons
- people who go because the music is really good
- people who go because THEY feel better about THEMSELVES for going
- people who think that just because they showed up means they have a real relationship with the Father
- people who own a Bible but don't read it
(most of all Christians fall into this category) also, they chair was a Lazy-Boy. appropriate? i think so.
3rd chair people:
- have a Bible and read it daily
- have a servants heart
- are wanting and willing to grow spiritually
- people who know Jesus and Jesus knows them
- people who do not just show up to church because that's what you are supposed to do but because that's what they know what they are supposed to do to learn and grow as a community
- people who are there not for themselves, but to help strengthen their relationship with Christ
- there are many other reasons here, but that's another post
what i want to get at is the percentage. 8% of Christians are the 3rd chair.
what that leads me to believe is that the 2nd chair people, who call themselves Christians is at 92%. that leads me to believe that 92% of all people who go to church are their just to hear information about our Savior but choose to do nothing with it.
this is outrageous!
INFORMATION DOES NOT LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION! just because you go to church and sit there and listen to a message and go home and do nothing about it will not change your life. zero. none. how can we expect a life style change to happen if we never take the steps to change our current life style we are living now?
when we go to church are we hearing the message and thinking, "oh ya, that's good. cool." and then never do anything about it?
that's like going to driving school and learning how to drive a car and then when you get in a car you just sit in the car and are pissed because it is not taking you anywhere. you need to step up, buckle up and put it into drive in order for you to go anywhere.
same thing with being a Christian! what good is it to just go to church and sit there and not put anything to action and then expect a huge transformation to happen in your life? its ridiculous.
a Christian is not a noun, a Christian is a verb. its an action.
we CANNOT get caught in the mind set that just going to church is good enough to get by and get a get out of hell free card. just because we are there listening on ways to better our life and to better our relationship with Christ does not mean you are in that 8% of people who are fully devoted Christians. if we are just listening and not doing, we are not Christians, we are hypocrites.
INFORMATION DOES NOT LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION
APPLICATION LEADS TO TRANSFORMATION!
are you a noun? or are you a verb?
RANDOM FACT: A goldfish named Tish lived to be 43 years old, making it the OLDEST GOLDFISH EVER.
Actions precede change. Inactivity is the darkroom where negativity is developed. I believe that the key to finding the joy of the Lord comes with service. I am so glad that almost immediately after becoming a Christian as an adult, I became engulfed in the world of Christian Service. I have often wondered if the changes would have "stuck" if I had just been a pew sitter. When tough times came and I had to count the cost--I was already all in.
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