Nominal?

 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Luke 12:34

Since the beginning of my ministry 40 years ago, A.W. Tozer has been a mentor and an inspiration. Today was a day that he was both.

In his daily devotional, Tozer asks, "Is the Lord Jesus Christ your most precious treasure in the whole world? If so, count yourself among 'normal' Christians, rather than among 'nominal' ones." Then he goes on to give a dictionary definition of the word "nominal." He writes that it is "Existing in name only, not real or actual; hence so small, slight, as to be hardly worth the name." He then writes, "I cannot understand how anyone can profess to be a follower and disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ and not be overwhelmed by His attributes."

He can't understand, yet each week, people come to gatherings that are called "worship" and aren't overwhelmed by much of anything, let alone the Lord Jesus. We file in, oftentimes 20 minutes late, take another 10 minutes to get "comfortable," and then try to focus on the last song being sung before the preacher comes to deliver the message. All the while our minds are more focused on what went on before we got here or on what awaits us when we leave. We bow our heads when asked to pray, stand up when asked to sing, and listen quietly (at least outwardly) while the pastor preaches. Then, at the end, we get up, head out to the parking lot, get into our cars, and then plunge into the rest of the day. But what has happened? What have we experienced? How have we changed? Did we encounter the risen Christ? Do we even know that we can?

The evangelist Vance Havner once said that living out normal New Testament Christianity in the modern American church will make one seem abnormal to the majority. So let's go back to the beginning of this writing. When you first read about normal and nominal, which did you consider yourself to be? As Francis Chan once asked, "When was the last time you read in the Book of Acts about the first century church and said, 'Wow, that's just like us?' " Could it be that in our day to day lives, in our corporate gatherings that we call worship, and in our moment by moment experience of Jesus Christ, we're far more in line with being nominal than being normal? We have treasure, and we know where it's buried, but little if any of it is buried in Him.

It's time for the church, both the individuals that comprise it and for the Body as a whole to have its spiritual pulse examined. Not by church growth experts or guru's, but by the Holy Spirit Himself. Perhaps the witness of our lives marks us as being far more nominal than normal. May we seek Him with such passion that we are overwhelmed by His response. May we carry that overwhelming experience in Him to our worship gatherings and behold Him to overwhelm His people. May we renounce all of our treasures that are not Him so that we can soak in the wonder and splendor that is Him. Let us dare to be so normal in Him that those around us who are not, just shake their heads and think us abnormal. Paul called it being a fool for Christ. Are you and I willing to be one?

Blessings,
Pastor O