At a time .

[Boaz]

I feel moved to put this up . It's about an hour before I leave for church and just been thinking .

At a time long ago or at least seems long ago I found myself just going through the motions . I went to church , was active in lesson preparation , visiting , I lead prayer when called upon . I helped set up meals , moving tables , chairs , showing up for work day at church and was normally active in a lot of activities .

I to the best of my knowledge have never had a 'spiritual crisis ' . Raised in a Christian home I never doubted the existence of GOD . But I came to the realization That I had strayed . I only did the work by rote , by habit . I no longer did it to glorify him . This actually frightened me to much thought . My relationship with him had been put on hold and I just continued the work with no purpose beyond ...'habit' . I found I didn't feel GOD in my life .

To be continued .

[Markopolo]

watching.... :popcorn:

[rl69]

Looking forward to this

Charlie You know what all is going on with me...and where I'm at,,,and where I've been..... Not that long ago.... The lords hand is felt more now then then....

[augercreek]

This is a condition that most church members go through I believe! We tend to take things for granted when we do the same things week in and week out ! We don't value the opertunities we have to be stewards for Christ. Look how little Jesus was valued 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave ! In the book of Zachariah God said to take those 30 pieces and throw them away! We must maintain our values by using them and nourishing them each day lest we become complacent !

[Wayne Smith]

Yup, it's easy to get lost in the Church even when we've been found (actually never lost) by God. Keeping a vibrant relationship with God is not something I do in Church. It is built out of my daily discipline, practicing awareness of God in my life in an ongoing way, and having an ongoing dialogue with Him.

[USMC87]

Amen Wayne, Praying for you Charlie!

[Markopolo]

for me, church is a gathering place for the saints, (milk). my relationship happens in private (Meat) and shared openly. so sometimes, i might go mindlessly serving a body, but my meat is served daily. but most of the time I an very mindfull at church. I lead the worship there and am pretty "in the zone" most of the time. No worries Charlie.

[frkelly74]

You are in the palm of Gods hand. God has a plan for you, do not doubt it. Even If you are not required to be a hero in faith in dealing with crisis after crisis you are none the less doing Gods work just by being there in the body of Christ calmly going about your life, believing, doing the right thing, in that order. God Bless you!

[Boaz]

A lot of good answers and advice have been given . We can all be distracted by the work to a point we lose the goal of giving or doing it . It shouldn't be 'us' doing the work at all . It should be our Lord working through us . To him should go the glory .

GOD's word teaches us of...'DEAD WORKS' . There are many verses concerning it . I'll put up a verse that is self explanatory . The book of James is often called the 'Sinners Guide" . I visit the book of James often . Faith and works go hand in hand , Faith creates works .

James 2

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Hebrews

[Boaz]

I worried about it and talked to some good friends that I respected . They basically doubted I had a problem but were honest and recommended a public re commitment . I put thought into it and did walk down front during the invitation at church seeking to recommit my life . The pastor was sympathetic but asked to talk later .

We did talk to some length later . I don't believe he thought I needed to but it was my decision . I did commit the next Sunday and since then go through quite a bit of self examination . It's easy to take his work on your own but that ain't the way it's done . The giving of yourself creates the work .

This was about thirty years ago and I still remain mindful of that experience .