BUG SPRAY FAITH
Valerie Rae Hanneman
August 6, 2004
Revelation 2:3 “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” (NIV)
There is this perfume that I simply adore. I am not enough of a perfume connoisseur to describe it as having the smoky tones of yin-yan over a base of sultry night jasmine with a satisfying hint of spices. I just know that it smells good! I am not real thrilled with its name “Opium” but it sure does smell good. Unfortunately my only experience with this perfume was as samples given away one day in Macy’s. Opium costs around $78.00 for a 3.3 oz bottle and that is way out of my price range. I am, after all, feeding a 15-year-old son and $78.00 represents a couple of days of food.
I was absolutely thrilled one day when I was in the 99Cent store and found a “knock-off” brand of Opium. I sprayed it on my wrist, and it smelled just like the real stuff! I bought three bottles of it and still saved tons of money!
The following Sonday I sprayed myself all over with the knock-off and went to services knowing that I smelled like a million bucks - well, okay - at least like a hundred bucks! I was doing one of my favorite Sonday things, hugging a friend, when she suddenly wrinkled her nose and said, “They must have sprayed for pests this week. Do you smell that?” I didn’t smell anything and that should have been my first clue. For choir practice the next Wednesday I gave myself another spray of my perfume. I got a couple of curious looks at choir, but I am used to that. When I got home that night and gave my mom her goodnight hug & kiss, she asked me, “Why do you smell like Raid?” I was mortified! How could I smell like bug spray? I was wearing $78.00 perfume!
Only I wasn’t - was I?
I was wearing a cheap perfume, an imitation of the real stuff, and it had no staying power. It may have started out smelling the same but time proved that it was worth just exactly what I paid for it.
There is a style of Christians that I call “shooting stars.” If you have been in a congregation for any length of time I am sure that you are aware of them. They show up one Sonday, fall in love with the music, the preaching, the ministries and join the church. Almost immediately they get really involved in any number of ministries. They are enthusiastic about their involvement, they are rapidly meeting everybody, they are bringing brownies to the pastor during the week, they are in classes, leading small groups, they there every time the church doors are open and then - poof - they are gone. I call them shooting stars because they show up on the horizon, make a big splash across the sky and then they disappear. The rest of us are standing there, shaking our heads and saying, “What was that?”
The reasons that they suddenly leave are varied. Sometimes they leave because they have burned out by being so involved and they feel they need to go to a church that doesn’t demand so much from them. Sometimes they have visited another church and fell in love with the music, the preaching, the ministries and have decided that they need to be attending there. Sometimes they decide that although they are giving everything they’ve got they aren’t getting anything back and sometimes there have been hurt feelings, the church hasn’t responded in the way they wanted, and so they are off to find a place where that doesn’t happen. The bottom line is that they simply don’t have any staying power.
That isn’t what Jesus intended. He didn’t say, “leapfrog from one congregation to the other, from one ministry to the other and I will bless you.” He said, “Persevere. Finish the race I have set you on - and the winner’s crown will be yours.”
I looked up persevere at www.askjeeves.com and it means to persist stubbornly, to refuse to quit, to hang in there. It doesn’t mean that when the going gets tough, the tough get going to another church.
I can understand visiting several churches trying to find the one that best suits you and I can understand trying out several ministries to find the one that best suits your gifts and your style - but you shouldn’t make a career out of hopping around. Once you find where you are supposed to be you should stay there.
Jesus says to persevere. To worship in the congregations He has placed us, to grow in the classes He leads us to, and to serve Him in the ministries He calls us to. And when the going gets tough He wants us to persist stubbornly, when we get tired He wants us to refuse to quit, and when our feelings get hurt He wants us to hang in there.
In the beginning, shooting star Christian’s faith looks the same as the persevering faith, just as my knock-off perfume smelled just as good as the real stuff. But the difference quickly becomes apparent as time goes by. At the first sign of trouble the shooting star faith is looking for greener pastures while the persevering faith says that it will not be moved. I bet that the shooting star faith smells like bug spray to God - while the real stuff - the persevering faith - smells like the finest perfume.
Jesus wants to change the world in His name - but to do that He has to have people whose faith perseveres.
What does your faith smell like?
LORD Jesus, I don’t want bug spray faith. I want faith that persevere and rises before You like perfume. Change me and mold me into what You would have me be.
Contact Valerie at valerie@fresnofirst.org
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