Let's Get Off the Couch, Dear Christians!

As an introduction to this study, please read the 1-minute devotion Comfortable on the Couch. It addresses 4 areas where many modern Christians are refusing to make the efforts needed to mature in their faith. Let's address these 4 areas with relevant Scripture passages.

1. Few Christians are denying themselves in the area of charitable giving: 

"Christians are only giving at 2.5 percent per capita, while during the Great Depression they gave at a 3.3 percent rate." (Relevant Magazine)  

Would you consider yourself "generous" in the area of charitable giving?

Proverbs 19:17: Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. 

2 Corinthians 9:6: Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 

2. Most Christians aren't interested in missions: 

Only 23% of evangelicals have taken a short-term mission trip even though a Barna study "shows that most of the people who embark on service adventures describe the trips as life-changing." 

Obviously, short term mission trips are not the only way Christians show an interest in missions. We can also give donations to help missions, and point #1 would reflect a lack of interest in that area. An area not measured in the Barna study was prayer for missions.

Are you praying regularly for missions?

Matthew 28:18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

3. Most Christians are unwilling to regularly study their Bibles: 

According to a Life Way study, while 90% of Christians say they want to please God, only 19% read their Bible daily. 

How often are you reading your Bible?

2 Timothy 2:15: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

4. Most Christians are unwilling to do "hard things."

The Life Way study also revealed that "Almost all churchgoers want to honor God, but more than a third indicate obedience is not something they have done when it is costly to them." 

Are you willing to inconvenience yourself to serve the Lord?
 
Luke 9:23-25: "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?" 
 
If you need improvement in any of these areas, I encourage you to get off the couch!
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copyright, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com, edited and updated in 2020