Several days ago, my friend and colleague Pastor Shane Idleman sent me a scripture with a question. The verse, speaking about Israel in the wilderness, said this:
“Jeshurun [a name for Israel] grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior” (Deuteronomy 32:15)
Does any of this describe us? Have we grown fat and kicked? Have we become deceived by our riches? Have we mistaken outward success for spiritual health? Have we assumed that material abundance is a proof of the smile of God?
Bigger is not always better.
In fact, sometimes, the bigger we are and the more we have the easier it is for us to neglect God, to forget our humble beginnings, to leave our first love, to lose our innocence and purity, to put out trust in the flesh.
We used to fast and pray to reach the lost in foreign nations. Now budgets and buildings have our eye.
We used to live to please the Lord alone. Now popularity and reach consume our thoughts.
Soon enough, even though we appear to be thriving outwardly, we are dying inwardly – and we are the last to know it . . .
