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Weekly Message for
Sunday, May 26, 2002
"....we cannot take
hold of the big unless we let go of the little."
~ Ernest Holmes ~
I
heard the term "Christian-Lite"
for the first time yesterday. It was said so that I  would
understand that the person was not too religious but did have a belief
in God and Jesus and considered themselves Christian. Many people
today probably fall into this newly defined religion which denotes a
lack of any real enthusiasm or commitment to their religion.
Whether we fall into the definition of "Christian-Lite,
Jewish-Lite, Buddhist-Lite or Catholic-Lite," it
all means pretty much the same. In other words, many people are no
longer looking to their religion to help them solve their life problems
or to inspire them to greater accomplishments. Many turn instead
to self-help gurus and psychology or consultants. They
have found that their religions have brought them "no peace and no
satisfaction."
Even
though I understand this lack of enthusiasm, I also understand that, for
the most part, the individuals are responsible for much of this
dissatisfaction. Too many of us take both our religions and God
for granted. We
don't take our religion or God too seriously............. until
something seriously wrong happens in our life.
Then, we seek God in crisis and don't understand why our prayers are not
instantaneously answered in the affirmative. We turn to God with
the understanding of a seven year old taking on a calculus problem....
our approach to God is without confidence, assurance or
understanding........ and then... when our prayers are not answered the
way we would like....... we turn away from God or give God lip-service,
while we seek our solutions elsewhere. This can become a cycle of
futility and often does.
We
must stop depending on our ministers, rabbis, priests and gurus for the
answers. Too
many of us have let other people define our relationship with God.
We must study and discover our own relationship with God. We must
be willing to look beyond the religions of our ancestors and seek God
within our very own consciousness. We must study God's nature in
order to cultivate and foster our relationship with God and with Life.
No one can do this for us as this relationship is unique to each of us.
Our ministers, rabbis, priests and gurus can guide us... but they are
only guides, not the answers. The same is true of Jesus, Mohammed,
Krishna and Buddha ... they
are "way showers" and we need to study them and their journey
into a more enlightened consciousness.
And we must cultivate this expansion of consciousness deliberately.
Dr.
O. C. Smith would tell us, quite simply, "lukewarm water does not
boil eggs."
We cannot realize the full value of spirituality or our relationship
with God if we are "lukewarm" on our path of discovery.
As we learn more and more, our enthusiasm will increase and we will
begin to experience greater joy, harmony, peace, abundance and
confidence in our life. But, we must be willing to give God as
much time every day as we do our tv sets and newspapers. "Christian-Lite"
is a no-thing ... no commitment ... no peace ... and no
satisfaction...... however we define ourselves, Christian,
non-Christian, Jew, Buddhist, whatever....... as we begin to take our
religion and God seriously......... very soon we will be walking in the
realization that GOD IS ENOUGH FOR ME!!
And
So It Is!
Letting Love use me
in Its own Good Way,
Henry Lee
Bates
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