Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is what most Americans are looking to find. However, it is a pursuit that for most is not meeting their spiritual needs. Some are turning to church and religion they have become-- Seekers. But even the religious Seeker is finding this pursuit is not meeting their spiritual needs.
Why is it that there are those who come to the Church seeking salvation and never find a change in their spiritual condition? Why is it that there seems to be very little difference between those who call themselves Christians and those who are non-Christians? It could be those who are calling themselves Christian are only Christian in name and not by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself made it clear that merely using His name does not make one a Christian. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21)
There are two types of people who come to church---Seekers and Finders. Let me explain. The Seeker is one who is looking for satisfaction of the soul—the pursuit of happiness. There are many who turn to religion to answer the call within only to find disappointment. (I'll deal with Finders in the next blog.)
A spiritual seeker is someone who is looking for truth. The Wise men who were looking for Jesus were Seekers. They came to find the Christ of the Star. To be a seeker in the spiritual realm is to seriously consider what God means to them. The void deep within the soul is crying to be filled. The success they once enjoyed isn't satisfying. Religion is starting to feel routine. Emotions of life that once could be handled are starting to handle them. The Seeker just wants the "good" life to be good at a deeper, more meaningful level.
The church is not the answer to the problems of the Seeker---Jesus Christ is the answer. All to often the church has given the impression of being the answer to all the problems of life. When the church fails to point the Seeker to Jesus Christ there will be no stability in the spiritual life of the Seeker. When Jesus Christ is not the center of the message, the Seeker will have a spiritual void resulting in failure in their efforts to see a change in their life or find the happiness they are pursuing.
The real problem is a failure in addressing the issue of sins and sin. When we avoid the real nature of man—being sinful we avoid the solution- Atonement, Repentance, Forgiveness, Justification, and Holiness. When these are avoided it is no more than the effort of man trying to bring about his own salvation. It will never work. The guilt of sin cannot be removed by self-salvation. The end result is trying to ease the guilt with blame. Guilt cannot find balance in ones life without blame. The more guilt the more blame is needed. People need to justify their actions --- “I am this way because. . . “ you fill in the blank.
In the spiritual world there are the Seekers who walk a path seeking Truth, It will have a different emphasis for each person but the main desire is to find freedom from the quilt of sin. The void in their life must be filled. They are seeking for that satisfaction that will give them peace. The “feel good church” is where they often start.
There are many wonderful “feel good churches” and “feel good preachers” they claim to show people how to change their life and be happy. However it is my experience that most of the time these churches and preachers aren’t effective in creating lasting change in one's spiritual life. All to often, people are left with an emptiness that failed to fill the void which they are trying to counterbalance (guilt/blame) and find peace.
I don’t want to condemn the possibilities of an individual finding peace in a “feel good church” or from a “feel good preacher” they can--provided the desire to change is strong enough to overcome the obstacles of self reliance and pride. More often than not the “feel good church” or “feel good preacher” will not provide the Seeker with direction to spiritual peace. The problem is that many of them don’t provide a spiritual approach to deal with the guilt and blame issues the Seeker is trying to balance. This leaves the Seeker without the proper direction and sets them up for spiritual failure.
If “feel good churches” and “feel good preachers” are really that effective there would be a marked distinction in the lives of the attenders. Rather it seems that the “feel gooder's” are much like the diet industry where most people go from one to the other without long term solutions. The end result is a dissatisfaction with Christianity. These churches are filled with Seekers who have never found the peace they have sought after. "Feel good churches" have failed to show the Seeker that salvation from the guilt and sin comes from the application of Atonement by Jesus Christ.
The process of salvation has been by-passed by the church leadership. Ministers know when a person believes they are right they feel good about themselves. It has become more important to feel good about ones self than to have the relationship with God that He requires. “Feel good ministers” do not acknowledge the nature of sin and its impact on the spiritual need of mankind. It is in the carnal nature of man to seek a self-atonement for their sins. Self-atonement produces an sense of self acceptance in their mind. Self-atonement creates a temporary feel good image about oneself. The major danger of this is the most powerful and dangerous element of the spiritual life--- self-righteousness.
A person may want to change, but the emotional consequence is too high. Often a person will try to stop what they consider as wrong or sinful but fail because the sinful nature has blinded their eyes and they cannot see. This unseen nature in the heart makes it impossible to change ones way of life. The works of self-righteousness and the decision to change a behavior isn’t likely to be effective if there is no true repentance.
To assume that you can adopt a different thought process without changing the “heart” that forms your thoughts is dangerous approach in finding salvation. An person doesn’t drop the belief that they are “good people doing good things” just by thinking the idea “I am good”. You might feel like you have done something for the moment, but behaviors and core beliefs have not changed and the Seeker is still connected to the old life---still in sin.
Can affirmations work? “I am a good Christian” “I believe in Jesus”, These are the phrases you consciously tell yourself over and over until you actually become aligned with those thoughts. Can these work? No you are still connected to your old life style.
Putting on a positive attitude or adopting positive thinking without changing the underlying spiritual nature cannot give sustained change. It is a lot like putting a new wall covering over a wall that has termites. For the new wall to be long lasting you first need to remove the termites inside wall and change the core structure.
Becoming aware of the internal struggle is a step in expanding awareness and an important step in finding the answer to one's spiritual condition. You can’t change something until you are aware of it. The Seeker cannot find the answer to the great spiritual need within the soul until they recognize their true spiritual condition. They have deceived themselves in thinking their goodness is godliness.
Over the years I have watched individuals who have never come to grips with the nature of sin in their heart. They have been Seekers all their life without ever finding the spiritual satisfaction they have been seeking. They are inwardly very unhappy people. Their religion is painful, unsatisfying, and they are most miserable of all people—there is no joy in religion. These are the people that make-up the greatest number of church going “Christians”—Seekers.
There is a need for Seekers, without the Seeker there would not be the Christian, but we need to go beyond the Seeking and become a Finder.
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