Good Trees or Bad Trees?
A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions (Mt 7:17-20).
Passionate spirituality is the lowest quality characteristic in most of
Questions in the survey that indicate the level of spirituality are, “Times of prayer are an inspiring experience for me”[1] and “I am enthusiastic about my church.”[2] Many Christians do not have as vital a prayer life as they should. Despite teaching, prayer meetings, Bible studies etc., can the leadership really know a person’s private devotional life? Our members are enthusiastic and deeply committed to our church, but how much spirituality is at home is debatable.
Schwarz states “… whether prayer is viewed as an ‘inspiring experience’ or not has a significant relationship to the quality and quantity of the church “[3] Results were similar concerning “personal use of the Bible and other factors affecting personal spirituality.”[4] A church cannot be any stronger than its weakest members. The church is made up of families and individuals and its health is dependent upon theirs.
However, each quality characteristic is crucial and should be present, passionate spirituality seems basic.
[1] Christian A. Schwarz,
[2] Ibid., 29.
[3] Ibid., 28.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message and
The Bible. New Living Translation.
Comments
I must say the church I am a part of does encourage an atmosphere of service and is a very caring place. But if there is a Bible study or prayer meeting, people run the other way!