There is a grief that sits in the throat when a person wakes to the possibility that they have been near the church and far from Christ. Scripture warned us that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” belongs to him, even when they prophesy and perform wonders (Matthew 7:21-23). Jesus told the story of ten virgins who all carried lamps and waited for the same Groom, yet only those with oil were received when the door shut (Matthew 25:1-13). The delay was not wasted time. It was the great separator. It still is.
A Parable for our Hour
Imagine a market at midnight, lit with dazzling signs that promise wisdom, community, power, and even prophecy. There is a stall for success, a stall for healing, a stall for righteous anger, a stall for inner peace, each draped with Christian words. The vendors are warm, the samples sweet. Yet the path home runs through a narrow gate, and the currency that opens it is not enthusiasm but repentance and faith that yields obedience (Luke 9:23; John 14:15). Much of what sells well at midnight will not burn at dawn.
The late modern world catechizes us by habit and screen. Our feeds are liturgies. They train the tongue toward outrage, the eyes toward envy, and the heart toward applause. We confuse virality with anointing and metrics with fruit, which matches the apostolic warning about people who love self and pleasure while keeping a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:1-5). If we let the algorithm tutor our desires, we will build a golden calf with Christian paint.
What Christianity Is Not
Christianity is not a contract for comforts. The gospel is not a vending machine that dispenses visas, wealth, and worry-free living in exchange for tithes, travel, or certain phrases. Those who teach that godliness is a means to material gain contradict the Lord and pierce souls with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:5-10). To evaluate God’s goodness by the level of our lifestyle is to worship a mirror.
Christianity is not therapy that baptizes the old self. Christ is not a life coach who improves our mood while leaving our loves unchanged. Grace does not merely soothe. Grace trains. It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly while we wait for the appearing of our great God and Savior, who gave himself to purify a people of his own possession, eager for good works (Titus 2:11-14).
Christianity is not charisma without character. The cult of personality, whether in a pulpit or on a platform, can sell a different Jesus with a different gospel that flatters our cravings. The apostles called such masquerades out, even when signs impressed crowds (2 Corinthians 11:3-4; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Christianity is not ritual confidence without new birth. Baptism, communion, fasting schedules, prayer mountains, and choir robes are gifts, but they cannot replace regeneration. Unless one is born from above, he cannot even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3-8).
Christianity is not activism as center. Some drape the cross in national colors, others in movement colors. When a cause becomes the compass and Christ becomes a slogan, the kingdoms are confused. Our citizenship is in heaven, and that relativizes every earthly allegiance (Philippians 3:18-20; Matthew 6:24).
Christianity is not syncretism with new spirituality. Occult-lite practices, manifestation rituals, and personality mysticism do not become godly by adding a verse. Scripture calls such mixtures captivity, not freedom (Colossians 2:8; 1 John 4:1).
Christianity is not deliverance without discipleship. Spectacle can be counterfeited. The test of a work of God is not noise but holiness, love, and perseverance in the truth (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 2 Peter 2:1-3).
Christianity is not Laodicean comfort. To say we need nothing because we have enough money, safety, and entertainment is to be poor, blind, and naked while thinking we are fine. Christ counsels such a church to repent in zeal and buy refined gold from him (Revelation 3:14-22). The patriarchs confessed themselves strangers and temporary residents on earth, seeking a better country, a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16).
Christianity is not ear-tickling that edits out sin, judgment, and the fear of the Lord. When people accumulate teachers to suit their desires, they turn from truth to myths. That pattern is not new. The prophets named it, and the apostles repeated it (2 Timothy 4:3-4; Isaiah 5:20).
Christianity is not legalism. Rules, culture, and denominational distinctives cannot justify. Any gospel that adds human ladders to the finished work of Christ is not good news at all (Galatians 1:6-9). We are saved by grace through faith for good works that God prepared, not by good works that purchase God (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Desire, Telos, and the Cross
At bottom, salvation touches desire before it reforms behavior. Humans are lovers long before they are theorists. We are always being drawn by a vision of the good life. The gospel converts the telos, not just the schedule. In Christ we are given a new center and a new end, to know him and be conformed to his image. The cross is not only the means by which God saves. It is the form by which God shapes. To belong to Christ is to learn cruciform beatitude, where losing the world to gain Christ is wisdom, not loss (Philippians 3:7-11; Luke 9:23-25).
This is why the delay of the Bridegroom proves us. Waiting reveals what we truly want. Oil is not spectacle. Oil is a heart kept soft by repentance, faith, and obedient love, replenished by the Spirit through the ordinary means of grace. It is the secret readiness that no audience can supply.
The Hidden Empire and the Open Secret
Scripture is frank about the pressure to conform to beastly systems that demand economic and mental allegiance, and it is also frank that the whole world lies under the sway of the evil one (Revelation 13; 1 John 5:19). Some temptations arrive in polished policies, others in glowing glass. The promise is always the same. Trust us, join us, and you will buy and sell without trouble. The call from heaven has also remained the same. Come out of her, my people, lest you participate in her sins and share her plagues (Revelation 18:4). This is not paranoia. It is sober watchfulness. The Christian refuses both naive optimism about human power and paralyzed despair. Christ has overcome the world, and he keeps his own in truth (John 16:33; John 17:15-17).
Self-Examination Without Self-Trust
The right response to this hour is not pride or panic. It is examination that drives us to Christ. The apostles tell us to test ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. We do not test to make ourselves worthy. We test to flee again to the only Worthy One (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Examination asks simple questions with eternal weight. Has God granted me new birth and new appetite for his word. Do I grieve sin and turn from it, or do I rename it and protect it. Is my love for God and his people real enough to be costly. Am I learning to obey when it hurts and to give when it tightens my chest. Has wealth loosened its grip. Do I seek honor from the Father rather than from others. Grace produces this fruit over time, not perfectly but genuinely (1 John 2:3; Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 12:14).
Repentance Now, Not Later
When the crowd was cut to the heart, the apostles did not prescribe self-improvement. They called for repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, promising the gift of the Holy Spirit to all whom the Lord calls (Acts 2:37-39). True repentance is not a mood. It is a turning of the mind and will to God, godly grief that produces earnestness, a clearing of ourselves, indignation against the sin we once cherished, fear of offending God, longing for holiness, zeal, and a readiness to make things right (2 Corinthians 7:10-11). The invitation remains urgent. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call to him while he is near. Let the wicked and the unrighteous turn to the Lord, and he will have compassion and will freely forgive (Isaiah 55:6-7).
Practicing Readiness in Public and in Secret
Readiness is not frantic activity. It is abiding. We keep watch by remaining in Christ and letting his words remain in us. Prayer, Scripture, gathered worship, the Lord’s Table, generosity, truth telling, sexual holiness, hospitality, and care for the poor are not accessories. They are God’s appointed means to keep lamps burning bright in the dark (John 15:4-5; Hebrews 10:24-25; James 1:27; Micah 6:8). This is not the purchase price of salvation. It is the trained readiness of those who belong to the Bridegroom and expect him soon.
It will help many of us to fast from the voices that catechize us away from the fear of God. Step out of the algorithm long enough to let the Spirit reorder desire by the word. Refuse the entertainment that makes sin look safe and holiness look strange. Give away more than feels sensible. Practice secrecy in generosity and prayer so that your Father, who sees in secret, will be your reward (Matthew 6:1-6).
The Midnight Cry
There is mercy in the delay. It exposes false fire, and it invites fresh oil. Those whom Christ loves he rebukes and disciplines. The counsel is plain. Be zealous and repent. He stands at the door and knocks. To the one who hears his voice and opens the door, he promises fellowship and a share in his victory (Revelation 3:19-21).
Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. The church answers with the simplest creed of hope. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:17; Revelation 22:20).
Examine yourself without self-trust. Turn to Christ without delay. Keep your lamp trimmed with repentance and faith. The Bridegroom is not late. He is patient, and his patience means salvation for many, if we will hear his voice today (2 Peter 3:9; Hebrews 3:12-15).
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