My wife has been watching You Tube Videos of an Azerbaijani lady cooking. They display the names of the food in subtitles, but you can’t learn recipes or cooking techniques by just watching. The older couple are obviously skilled, and the setting is an idyllic farm, and they pick fresh fruit, berries and vegetables and cook huge dishes over open fires. Sometimes they eat what she cooks and other times they preserve the food in glass jars like my mother and grandmother did when I was growing up. At some time during the show, they pick flowers or leaves and boil them to make tea. Other people must enjoy the videos too because they have a huge following.
Why would anyone want to watch someone else work, cook and eat when they will never taste the food or even enjoy the nice place. Azerbaijan isn’t a tourist destination, so they will never visit the place or meet the people. I think Susan enjoys the shows so much because of their simple but seemingly nice life, and even though they work hard, there is an abundance of food. No, she won’t get anything else from the show, but she will continue just watching.
I see that same thing happen at Church. People happily show up, go through the services singing, sometimes raising a hand, or shouting a Hallelujah but leave the way they came. If you ask, they enjoyed the praise and worship, loved the message, and will even financially support the ministry but they never go any deeper and let the HOLY SPIRIT change their hearts and lives.
Why would anyone watch someone else enter that intimate relationship with GOD when they won’t “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psa 34:8 KJV) for themselves? Are they afraid of what GOD will do to them? Do they get their religious box checked and don’t want more? The HOLY SPIRIT won’t force himself upon you or go where He isn’t wanted. Though people may lose some of their pride when they enter in, I’ve never seen one who regretted surrendering. JESUS said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38 KJV). Doesn’t that sound better than just watching?
But I’m saved and I will go to Heaven when I die. Isn’t that enough? JESUS said, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8 KJV). How many souls could be led to the LORD if you accepted that power and used it in doing His will. I will never go to those faraway places! You don’t know what GOD can do through you until you yield to His will! Through the internet, you can be a witness in “those faraway places” and never leave home or you might even cross the street and reach your neighbor!
You can keep just watching, but thankfully “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV) and “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8 KJV). If they had been satisfied with just watching, you would be lost and have no hope.
Wayne Lance (2022) – That’s Good News to Share!