A Gallup poll released March 29th noted that church membership has fallen below 50% for the first time in their 70 years of polling. The article noted that since the turn of the century there has been a near doubling in the percentage of people with no religious preference. This does not surprise me. 

I’ve been in a handful of third world countries. There is a much more prevalent belief in God in these countries. It is hard to provide for one’s needs, whether it be food, shelter, or medical needs. Desperate people look for help, and the vast majority look to God for help. In our country most of our citizens are able to provide for their own needs rather comfortably. Does that mean we don’t need God? 

I suspect that those who see God as merely the provider of people’s needs, might think that way. But wait, that makes God, man’s servant! It reduces God to a level below humanity, flipping the very definition of God. If that is an incorrect understanding, does that mean we should see all humanity as His servants? Well, yes! If God is the Creator and sovereign over all, the purpose of each of our lives is to serve God. 

Consider this, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36, NASB95).  The next verse says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 12:1). These and many more Scriptures tell us the same thing, the purpose of our lives is to glorify God; that is, show His greatness.

And, because God really is God, each of our lives will glorify God. We will glorify Him, either in this life, or come judgment day, when our lives are shown to have been in contrast with His holiness and justness. It is because of that coming day for each of us, that even those of us who live in wealthy places need God’s help. But isn’t God love? Yes. That’s why He sent His Son Christ Jesus to earth and to the cross. There He stood in for each of us by becoming a substitutionary payment for all our sin. In this once for all time act of love, God remained just, by upholding a sentence for sin, and the justifier, by paying that sentence. The first 3 chapters of Romans shows that all of us are guilty before God. In chapter 3, after telling us that the blood of Christ was a sufficient substitutionary payment, verse 26 says, “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26). 

Did you catch the last phrase, “who has faith in Jesus”?  God simply asks us to put our faith in what Jesus has done for us, to turn from a self-serving life to Christ for forgiveness of our sins through His sacrifice. And then, neither going back to the life independent of God we were living, nor trying to be good enough to deserve heaven, but daily trusting God to accept what His Son did for us. As we grasp this, our lives will fill with gratitude to God and a desire to glorify Him in all we do. And, dare I say, to affiliate. Are you affiliated with Christ? 

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Dan Krahenbuhl is pastor of Monroe Bible Church.