The Old Testament law has some things that seem strange to our modern minds. Some things appeal to our reason, but not everything. The Lord sometimes provided explanations for the laws He gave, sometimes not.
Or there may be only partial explanations and that’s all we get. One example is the command that the Israelites are “to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel,” (Numbers 15:38). The reason for the tassels is: “so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes,” (15:39).
There is no explanation for the blue cords in the tassels, but we don’t need to know. God explains enough. We know that the tassels where a visual clue for the Jews to remember God and His commands.
God knows how we are made; He knows we tend to forget and drift. So he gave the tassels as reminders. He gave them other reminders too–the weekly sabbaths, monthly new moon festivals, three big annual feasts, and one annual day of fasting and repentance—the day of atonement.
Christians are not exempt from tendencies to drift. So we are given reminders too: holidays like Easter and Christmas. We have the Lord’s Supper. We have weekly worship and the command to meet together frequently (Hebrews 10:25).
But despite all this, some Christians still drift away. Many, if not most, church members do not continue to live up to their initial enthusiasm for the things of the Lord.
Every pastor knows of people who should be in church, but aren’t. Some people whose names are on the membership list we haven’t seen in years. In many churches, the membership list exceeds the weekly attendance, perhaps by a lot. Not a good thing.
Here’s a true story. The first church I pastored was in a small town in a rural county. I started there in 1991. The 1990 government census listed more church members in the county then there were people in the county! One would think that everyone went to church. But the pastors in town knew very well that people were missing from the pews. Where were all these members?
Some of it, I’m sure, has a reasonable explanation. People move and never think to transfer membership. People get old and move in with relatives far away. Some, for whatever reason—maybe an old argument or disagreement–choose to sit out.
But many just drift away spiritually, but maybe they still like to be affiliated with a church just in case someone asks them, “What church do you belong to?”
Church affiliation without spiritual life can be treated like an id card in your wallet. In some European countries baptisms were done at birth. Nearly everyone was baptized and had a baptism certificate. But only a small percentage attended church. Church membership…baptism certificates…it can be a cover for spiritual deadness.
How can we maintain faith?
In Jesus’ day there was a desperate woman who grabbed on to the hem of His garment (Mark 5:25-34). She had been bleeding for 12 years and doctors had not been able to help her. It is not mentioned what kind of bleeding she had, but it seems likely to be a continual menstrual bleeding. If that case she would have had not one major problem but two: the physical problem and the social ostracism of being continually unclean from the bleeding. In any case, the woman was desperate. She lunged through the crowd to touch the Savior’s garment. She was successful and was immediately healed.
The woman was afraid, but Jesus was pleased with her bold faith and assured her that the healing had happened. Think of it—she had her life back. No more bleeding, no more wasting money on ineffective medical treatments, and an end to her social ostracism.
Her faith was alive and real. You can believe that this woman never forgot what the Lord did for her.
There seems to be two main keys to spiritual longevity and ongoing vitality: desperation and gratitude. I wonder if people grow cold in their faith because they are not desperate enough. In an affluent society with stabilizing structures like medical care, insurance and government programs we might not feel that we need the Lord so much. We might not feel the desperation like the woman did who lunged through the crowd to touch Jesus’ garment. But we need that kind of desperation, at least spiritually. We must have an encounter with the Lord, one that saves us from sin. This is the greatest need of all.
Jesus once told this story: “’Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon replied, ‘I supposed the one who had the bigger debt canceled’. ‘You have judged correctly’, Jesus said,” (Luke 7:41-43). To have our debt of sin cancelled; that should make us grateful.
And our gratitude should continue on afterwards. Gratitude is a way of practicing faith; it is like an engine that keeps us from drifting away or dying out. While the Israelites had their reminders (tassels, Sabbaths, feast days) and we have ours (Christian holidays, weekly church, communion) the fire of devotion must be kept burning on the inside. That way we will have longevity.