There was a time when Christians believed the most important thing in life was to be committed followers of Jesus. They were willing to give up their possessions and even their lives if necessary. It doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. As we travel our state, we are finding that believers want to like each other, want to see the Kingdom of God advance. So what keeps us from seeing this happen, several things actually.

First, most believers do not believe they are worthy of the blessings and participation in the Kingdom of God. Whether they have been taught believing they are worthy is prideful, or whether the enemy uses shame, guilt and condemnation in their spiritual lives, the majority of believers are held back from helping advance God’s Kingdom. When someone feels they are not worthy of God’s blessing, His love, or His desire to use them to move His Kingdom ahead they will not step into who they are called to be. They want to, don’t get me wrong, but they do not. They leave it to others to do and when no one steps up to do what God wants of them, God waits for someone who is willing to answer His call.

Second, most believers still allow the fear they have been taught to live in to control their involvement in the Church. They fear that the local church they attend will become demanding of their time and their money, so they allow fear to hold them back. So many people we talk with have become convinced that God will lower the bar for them and not hold them accountable for “not” being involved. Fear says “you might get used”, a stagnant heart (Zeph 1:12) heart says, if you don’t do it “God won’t do anything”. But it is not true. The Scriptures tell us that we will be held accountable by God for everything we are supposed to do, whether we follow through with them or not. In Matthew 21:28-30 the parable is told of 2 sons asked by their father to go work in the field. One says he will and doesn’t. The other says he won’t, but does. When Jesus asks who did what his father wanted, the answer was the one who went to the field to do the work. Jesus then went on to tell the religious leaders that the prostitutes and tax collectors were going to heaven ahead of them because when John the Baptist came to show the way of righteousness and the religious leaders did not believe him.

Third, most believers do not even vote within our state. During the 2006 election 60% of Washingtonians registered to vote called themselves believers in Jesus Christ, yet only 8-9% voted. Whether believers in Jesus do not believe their votes will matter, or whether they just don’t vote – even though they took the time to register – speaks volumes to the fact that in our state, most believers do not see their role in our country’s direction as something God cares enough about to motivate them to act, at least by voting.

Fourth, those who are spiritual leaders today do not trust each other too much. There are relationships between those who have similar beliefs, but by in large, most pastors in any given community are too busy to be pursuing relationships with other pastors. Many cities have multiple Minister’s Associations. Most pastors do not have or make the time to spend getting to know other pastors as friends, beyond collective ministry experiences together. If the spiritual leaders are not pursuing other spiritual leaders, one wonders if they are encouraging those in their local congregations to be friends with other believers from other congregations.

Fifth, and certainly not last many believers simply are too busy with other activities to pursue and follow after God with all their hearts. Again and again the Bible tells us that we need to be people who are wholeheartedly devoted to God and His ways. Even if we simply choose to follow the 2 most important commandments (love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself) and what the Lord said is good and what He desires of you (to love justice, to show mercy and to walk humbly with your God) the Kingdom of God would advance rapidly through His Church first, and then through the land.

More later.