Have We Become Too Relaxed?

As New Testament Christians one question we should all be asking is, “Have we become too relaxed?” It is no secret within the body of Christ we aim to live our lives according to Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16, 17), but are we really meeting the Divine standard? Without a doubt, as Christians we are all going to come up short from time to time (1 John 1:8), but let us consider some areas that we might be missing the mark without even realizing it; areas where we might have become too relaxed.

First, let us consider our attire. If we were to go back fifty years ago and sit in on a worship service of the Lord’s Body, the apparel of God’s people would look a lot different from today. The men would be wearing coats and ties, the women would be wearing a dress or a nice blouse, but today that kind of attire is few and far between. Question, what exactly changed? Is that kind of apparel unavailable today? Have the summers got hotter, so now less men wear coats, or could it be we as the church have become too relaxed in what we wear to worship services? Brothers, sisters, and friends, please understand you do not have to wear a suit or dress to go to heaven. However, God wants you to give Him your very best in worship. If you think about it, under the old law God wanted His people to worship Him with the firstfruits (Lev. 23:10, 11). On another occasion, Nadab and Abihu were devoured by the Lord because they did not give God what He wanted (Lev. 10:1-3), and today it is no different. God wants us to give Him our best (Matt. 22:37)!

Second, let us consider our attention. In the world we live in today, it is no secret the attention span of most is quite small. In fact, a recent study found that the average attention span is no longer than eight seconds. Now, certainly there are many factors to this, but perhaps the biggest contributor is technology. Having said that, how does this affect our worship to God? Well, in a time that is supposed to be filled with devotion (Ps. 96:9), we often fill it with the distractions of our phones. Sometimes it is the case, instead of being focused on The Text (Ps. 119:97), we are focused on sending or reading text messages. Truly, one area we all need to think about more often is the amount of attention we are giving to God when we worship. Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Do we recognize it is impossible to worship God in that manner when we have divided attention?

Even though we aim to be people who go by God’s Word, we can easily become complacent. In fact, sometimes we might just need to be told, “Consider your ways” (Hag. 1:5) in order to get us back on the right track. That being said, we may not think about it very often, but our attire and attention are things we need to consider and make sure we have not become too relaxed.