My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. – Ezekiel 33:31

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 26, 2014): Ezekiel 33

The Christian Church has failed. It is not God that is dead, rather it is his church that has steadily refused to die. We are driven by our pride, and that pride has provided the ideal setting for our failure. It is time to admit that our critics are right. The church is filled with hypocrites. Of course, this is not really a surprise. We are filled with very fallible humans – and humans have a habit of falling short. We really exist with a choice. We can either exist within our comfort zones and allow our behavior to match our words, or we can allow ourselves to be stretched knowing that we will fail. The second option is the one that we need to follow, but it is also the reason why we are unable to live up to what we say that we believe.

But that isn’t really the problem. The problem is that we just don’t seem to care. We preach a gospel and then refuse to follow it when it is not convenient. We continually search for reasons why we don’t have to follow our own rules. And this is why we have to admit that the church has failed. Specifically, we don’t seem to want to love. I can find no other reason for the behavior that the church seems to exhibit. There are vast populations of people that have never felt the overwhelming love of the church – because we have never been willing to offer it to them.

As Ezekiel looks at the exiles, this is precisely what he sees in his church. The people are willing to speak about right things, to say that they love, but they are not willing to walk that road. Love requires a selfless spirit, but Ezekiel says that the people’s hearts are filled with greed – and greed focuses our hearts on ourselves making true love impossible.

And I believe that the church’s obsession with orthodoxy is part of our greed. And as long as we strive to be orthodox, to believe what is right, we will find that we are unable to love - because our orthodoxy forces us to concentrate on ourselves instead of on each other. Our orthodoxy stops us from not only seeing the other, but loving the other.  In the end, love is never about right belief, but rather about right practice. But it is to this practice that God has called his church.

In the end I am convinced that if we love no one will care that we are hypocrites. But if we refuse to love, then we will be judged harshly, and we will deserve every negative word. The church has failed. And unless we are willing to love, there is no road back to success for us.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 34