(reading this should take less than three minutes, but it could impact you for a lifetime)
I really like to fish, to kayak, to kayak fish.
I also really like racquetball, pickleball, weight training.
At various times in my life I have really liked ping pong, surfing, sailing, traveling, attending concerts, watching and playing football, basketball.
I have also really liked having pet dogs, building houses, coaching youth soccer.
And at the top of my lists have been family and friends and ministry.
Needless to say, I was eager to engage in conversations associated with any of these topics.
This is true for all of us. We like to talk about the things we like, and the things that intrigue us.
It could be work, finances, politics, music, sports, history, movies.
Sometimes people are obsessed with negative issues.
Sometimes people are consumed with perverse things.
Still, whatever captures our interest is what we like to talk about.
I could also mention the Bible or Christianity or theology or spirituality. But these topics are in a special category. Some people have a special interest in these subjects, but their interest is not based on a relationship with God through Christ; it is simply academic, cultural, moral.
It is really rare to encounter people who eagerly, enthusiastically, passionately, lovingly converse about spiritual topics because they are...
* so closely related to Jesus,
* so totally transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit,
* so excited by the revelation of God,
*so in love with the Body of Christ,
*so concerned about the lost,
*so burdened for a world in darkness.
I have lived through the fifties and sixties, when there was seldom more than a head knowledge and a cultural interest in salvation.
I have lived through the seventies and eighties, when there was an evangelical excitement concerning salvation in our nation.
I have watched since the nineties, as the social interest and personal passion for Christ, His word, His salvation, His Body, His work, has waned and is no longer spoken with fervor, with unction, with conviction, with love and expectation.
My concern is not the lack of conversation concerning Christian issues. My concern is the lack of excitement and commitment that should be present when "believers" have the opportunity to sit together in heavenly places, to feast at the table of heavenly fare.
It is not a matter of more attention, or more knowledge, but a matter of closer relationships with Christ. It is a matter of LOVING JESUS, and being alive in Christ. Remember, we want to talk about that which we love.
Psalms 39:3
(3) My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
Acts 4:20
(20) For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
