One aspect of the world that is harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Thirty-second and even 10-second commercials have conditioned our attention spans. Our sense of reality has been flattened by 30-page Reader's Digest abridgments.

It is not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; but it is very difficult to sustain that interest. Many claim to have been converted, but the evidence for mature, Christian lives is slim. There is a great market for religious experience in our world, but there is little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in faithful obedience.

What makes for an enduring Christian? Are we following the lead of the Holy Spirit as a pilgrim, or are we just sitting on the sidelines like a tourist?

Religion in our time has been captured by the tourist mind-set. Religion is understood as a visit to an attractive site—to be made when we have adequate leisure.

Megachurches

People today will try anything—until something new comes along. In the United States, megachurches of 2,000 to 24,000 members cater to the emotional needs of their audiences to ensure the congregation "feels good." Megachurch-phenomenon pastors seek to provide whatever their membership says it needs, often only loosely based on the Bible.

"A number of social observers have suggested that megachurches resemble shopping malls in their wide array of consumer-driven ministerial offerings . . . This system provides the entire membership with a continuous supply of appealing choices that fit their tastes . . . As one megachurch member explained, 'It has everything I need in one package'" (hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/thumma_article2.html, emphasis added throughout).

Disciple and Pilgrim

What about us? How convicted is our belief? Why do we attend services? Are we looking for a church that fits our ever-changing desires?

Today's passion for the immediate and the casual makes the work of leading a Christian life most difficult . Everyone is in a hurry. Everyone wants shortcuts and is impatient for results. People have adopted the lifestyle of a tourist and only want the high points. The Christian life cannot mature under such conditions.

In going against the stream of the world's ways, there are two biblical descriptions of Christians that are extremely useful: disciple and pilgrim. Disciple says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a growing-learning relationship, always. A disciple is an active learner.

Being a pilgrim tells us we are to spend our lives going somewhere, following the path outlined by Jesus Christ. Neither term has the characteristics of a tourist. We realize that this world is not our home and set out, as Abraham did, for another spiritual city "whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:8-10).

Abraham looked to God, even when he did not know where he was going. He was a true disciple and pilgrim.

In our kind of culture, anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. This must not be the case for us. We must sustain our interest and faith over the long haul. Worthwhile things are not attained all at once—they take time.

As the apostle Peter wrote: "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11).

This fits in with the theme of this year's Feast sermon video, "Life Anew in a New Land." Let's continue to be faithful sojourners as sons and daughters in God's family! UN