Passing On Our Curses

In Scripture names were given with a purpose.  When given by God they described the work that He intended to do in the lives of those whom He used for His purposes.  The children of Hosea and Gomer were used by God to show the transgression of the people of Israel.  Not only was their mother an adulterous woman (some translations say a woman of "whoredom"), but the consequences of her unfaithful lifestyle were passed onto her children.  This is evident by the names they were given (see Hosea 1:3-8).  Gomer seemed to be willing to live a lifestyle that gave no consideration to the legacy and consequences she might have been passing on to the next generation.

I wonder if we are not guilty of this in the church today.  It seems like we are very willing to compromise the Word of God and don't really even need a good reason or explanation to do so.  We know what it says about specific things and just ignore it.  What does that say about our faith?  Or, more importantly, about our view of God? 

We have become willing to compromise our reliance on God's power to the point that we could accurately say that we have turned our backs on Him.  Rather than relying on the power of God the church relies on business models, church growth programs, meetings and brainstorming sessions, and whatever idea we believe might "sell our product."  We even go so far as to cancel worship services and prayer meetings to go into the community and do good works for those of the world in hopes that we can bribe them into listening to the gospel someday. The problem is that none of this is portrayed in Scripture.  It all comes from the mind of man.

The problem with all of this (besides the obvious issue that our relationship with God is compromised because we are idolizing the mind of man) is that we are passing on a curse to future generations.  Like the children of Hosea, the church is being given a name that gives little hope for a vital relationship with God in the future.  When our focus is not spiritual, but on good works and material things then the next generation of the church will become focused on all those things.  Rather than being the church of God (or the church focused on God) we become the "community church" (which is rightly name when the focus is not on God).  I am not saying that we forget about the great commission.  We are all called to win the lost.  But to what do we win them?  Community service organizations?

It seems that in all of the meetings and brainstorming that we have we forget about one great truth.  It's God's church!  It is not our responsibility to organize or administrate it.  We are simply to seek God's will and submit to it.  The church is a far cry from seeking, much less submitting to anything other than our own ideas based on cultural whims.  We are doing everything in our power to pass on a curse. 

Sometimes it seems like the only hope that remains for the coming generations is that even in spite of the circumstances that were passed on to them God can still redeem.  He can still call the willing heart back to Him.  God can overcome the curses passed on from one generation to the next, but only God can.  But He shouldn't always have to.  It would be far better for the next generation if the curse of a church that has committed "whoredom" with the idols of the world had turned back to God before the consequences of her sin were passed on in the first place.