I have seen the Walking Dead. They are human enough, but their state of mind is more to be feared than all the imagined monsters in all the world. Even more than viruses and draconian policies.
No, this isn’t a note to Sci-Fi fans. I write to the People of God. To fellow Christians. Because there are things that need to be said that aren’t being said. Things that we should be doing that aren’t being done. There is understanding that we are missing that we are so sure we have. We arrogantly preach how well we understand and how much better we are than everyone else out there – even than other groups of those professing the Faith, those professing to walk in “the Way” as referred to in the book of Acts.
So yes, the Walking Dead is what we have become. We are powerless, joyless, heartless, passionless, loveless. We sing funeral-dirge hymns without passion; smile because it is expected; act without love; and sometimes not even act at all – not when we should. We do not show love to one another. We do not practice the gifts God has given us. We are quick to condemn, but fear to discern. We look in the mirror and walk away forgetting what sort of persons we really are. We bury our talents in the sand.
We have been prone to chatting quietly after church, speaking blandly about eating out last week and the latest movie we watched and asking questions like “How was work this week?” But we are not brethren during the week. The light of the Spirit of God in us is waning and we are as those who sleep. (Matt 25)
Yet for some reason, we still seem to think that we have special knowledge. We feel we have special understanding – more revealed to us – that we are, in fact, somehow more righteous, more spiritual. Better. We are puffed up. Revelation (Laodicea) come to mind, maybe? Oh, but that’s someone else. Couldn’t be us – could it?
Brethren, we are supposed to be the ekklesia – the called out ones – the real church that Jesus Christ set in motion. We are supposed to be a light to the world. (Matt 5:13). But we are crippled by our own pride, arrogance, misguided missing of the point of the amazing plan God has for mankind. And in the process, we are adhering to some doctrines that are mere tradition at best and fatal heresies at worst which are crippling the ekklesia.
Will we find ourselves again as new men and women through Jesus our Lord and God our Father? I think we need to be aware of Luke 18:8. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Are we willing to do what it takes to live again? “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20).
We need to stop being among the walking dead. Our very lives going forward – “to infinity and beyond” – depend on it. Will you join me in a challenge to those of us who call ourselves the People of God to remind and be reminded of who we are supposed to be? It is more important than ever in these times.
