Trick or Treat
Fall is upon us. Soon little kids will be dressing up in their favorite costumes and knocking on doors to get candy! I remember this time of the year like it was yesterday. When I was young, we had a song we often sang that went like this: “Trick Or Treat, Smell My Feet; Give Me Something Good To Eat; If You Don’t, I Won’t Be Sad; I’ll Just Make You Wish You Had.” Of course, we didn’t pay too much attention to the lyrics, but it was a fun song to sing.
But when it comes to Christianity, sometimes we want to treat God the same way. We say to God, “do as I say, when I say and I will be a good little Christian. But the minute you don’t do for me as I wish, I’m going to turn my back on you and live my life any ole way I want.”
It seems to me that sometimes we treat God more like a cosmic butler instead of the God of Heaven and Earth that He is. We will pray to God when something bad is happening, but when things are good, we don’t want Him around. When we are with our friends ready to engage in some sinful practice, we want God as far away from us as He can get. “You go do God things and when I need you again, I’ll let you know.” When we are by ourselves in front of the t.v. or computer, watching things that are not fit to be watched, we don’t want God around! But when my loved one is in the hospital, we call Him like we would our lap dog… “Here God, come now!”
Is that the way we should treat God? We all know the answer to that, don’t we? The Bible over and over reminds us that we should reverence God and God only. But sometimes we are too busy revering ourselves or someone else.
So how do I stop using God like a butler and begin revering Him with the reverence that He deserves and demands? I want to invite you to come and join us at the Rabun County church of Christ as we look at that very thing this last quarter of the month. Our theme this year has been “All about Thee in 2023.” The first three quarters of the year, we looked at God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now beginning in October we will do a series of lessons on what our response should be toward God and how we can please Him more every day in our lives.
This is our special invitation to you, to come and join us at the Rabun County church of Christ this Sunday, and together we will begin to show God the proper reverence He desires us all to show Him and together we will learn to love Him more.
Mckinley Pate