I am well aware that...
Illustration
I am well aware that most of the folks in my congregation are pleased as can be that our church makes very few demands on them. According to our denomination, all you need do to remain an active member in good standing is attend worship once a year or make a contribution once a year. We are not very demanding at all. Yet I know that from time to time our church has lost members not because we demand too much, but because we demand too little.
Some folks need the church to require them to give all they can, not as little as they can spare. They need to know that they are held accountable for the commitment they have made, so they reject the "easy in, easy out" style of the main line church for one of the "high commitment, high demand" churches. These churches are growing at great speed, while the rest of us slowly shrink away. They say, in effect, "we require you to prove the reality of your faith through your actions."
I suspect that Naaman would have been more comfortable in one of those churches than mine. Naaman needed to be asked much, for he thought much of himself. When the prophet asked him for a little thing, he could not comprehend it. Naaman had to learn that it is not the quantity of commitment that counts, but the quality. He was so offended that he was not asked to do something big, he almost did nothing at all.
--Curley
Some folks need the church to require them to give all they can, not as little as they can spare. They need to know that they are held accountable for the commitment they have made, so they reject the "easy in, easy out" style of the main line church for one of the "high commitment, high demand" churches. These churches are growing at great speed, while the rest of us slowly shrink away. They say, in effect, "we require you to prove the reality of your faith through your actions."
I suspect that Naaman would have been more comfortable in one of those churches than mine. Naaman needed to be asked much, for he thought much of himself. When the prophet asked him for a little thing, he could not comprehend it. Naaman had to learn that it is not the quantity of commitment that counts, but the quality. He was so offended that he was not asked to do something big, he almost did nothing at all.
--Curley
