In my experience as a devout churchgoer, I realised that if many Christians did not have pressing needs and expectations, they would not “come into the presence of God” as they do. Apart from the fear of hell, needs drive many people to church. Many of them reason that since they have obeyed the religious command to worship God and not forsake the assembly of the brethren, they stand qualified to receive the supply of their needs from God. As you can expect to find, there are scriptural verses to support God’s provision upon the obedience to worship God.
So, on the one hand, they are faithful churchgoers, praising and worshipping, and praying as much as they can for their needs and against their enemies, and paying offering and tithes. On the other hand, they are expectant children of God, waiting on God to use someone or some situation to increase their bank savings, rent a larger apartment or build a house, buy cars, and, for some, travel into foreign lands. Apart from these, nothing else defines their relationship with God!
Needs drive more people to God than the fear of hell. As strange as it may sound, many Christians are not as convinced of hell as they are of heaven. Some who know they live sinful lives still think they will make heaven by being churchgoers. Grace and the Blood will save them from hell, so they do not even worry about hell as much as they worry about how to enhance their lifestyles and present themselves better in society.
To escape poverty, meet their needs, and enjoy luxury, many religious people try to please God, not really to know God. What they have been told about God in the Bible is enough for the seeking. Their part is to praise and worship, and make long prayers, and then expect in faith that God will show up with their provision. In more cases than we can guess, these are the people who abandon the intelligent use of their minds. To them, why till the ground when God can send manna?
If Nigeria and many other African countries are prosperous like Western countries, there will be fewer religious people. If government could provide basic amenities, and people’s jobs give them tangible income, churches and mosques will have fewer attendance.
If people can solve their needs, they will have little need for God. It is not like this is a good condition of being, but people cannot define a relationship with God other than as their needs provider. They do not want to understand the foundation of creation nor care about the invisible worlds. They care less for the mysterious. To them, if God hid things in mystery, God did so to take away the trouble of people seeking them out.
I know people who left church not because the doctrine is offensive but because “church is not working for them”. Then, they go out “into the world” and begin to apply their wits which they had abandoned while thinking that being religious automatically opens the windows of heaven down to them.
The question is: do people really want to understand life? Do people really want to know God? Are they earnest in their desire for a life of spirituality? Can they be openminded enough to look beyond religion out into real life, to see what dogma has blinded them from? Do they truly want to be alive? Unfortunately, many of them do not know that there is a large ocean out there beyond the aquarium of their religion.
“These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are from me“. Matthew 15:8.
