Obsession

The church is full of the obsessed. 

Some are obsessed with the end times. Speaking  constantly of Christ’s return and the rapture and our country’s place in all of it. They are counting days and sharing visions. They can’t remember the last time they shared Jesus. 

Some are obsessed with sin. Some with their own but most with the sins of others. They weep and moan and pound their chests and point their fingers. 

Some are obsessed with Israel. They want to speak Hebrew, blow shofars, live in Israel and be Jewish. They pray for Jerusalem but forget China and the Sudan. 

Some are obsessed with their churches, their ministries or their missions. It’s all they talk about. It’s on the tshirts they wear and in the words they speak. They are convinced they have it right and that most everyone else is wrong. 

Some are obsessed with things of the Spirit. They follow miracles. They think in tongues. They teach only of fruits and gifts. They are lacking in love and starving for grace.

Some are obsessed with politics; some left and some right. They seem to believe that salvation is in Washington and Jesus came to save us from the Romans.

These things are not all bad. In fact, most are good. They are just not worthy of obsession. 

I want to meet someone obsessed with Jesus. I want it desperately. I want to listen to that person, learn from him, absorb his joyful presence. I want to capture his enthusiasm and borrow his obsession. It’s the only one worth having. It’s the only one I want to see every morning in the mirror.

Nick