What Does It Take To Get People To Live Right?

That question seems to be the matter of greatest concern in the religious world today. I hear a great many sermons on “How to Live the Christian Life,” “Holiness,” “Obedience,” and “Practical Godliness.” In the book catalogs that come across my desk the largest section of books, and the most popular, are what I call “How To” books - How to be a good husband, wife, neighbor, etc. It seems that everyone wants to be told exactly what to do in all aspects of life and how to do it. Astonishing as it may seem, grown men and women in the religious world like to be treated like toddlers. A list of rules for everyday and a gentle scolding now and then is what they want.

Preachers and religious leaders are falling over top of one another to give them what they want, constantly trying to come up with new ideas about how to get people to live for God. Instructions are given. Rules are imposed. Goals are set. Projections are made. Proposals are presented. Punishment is threatened. Rewards are promised. The presumption is, if you are going to get people to do what is right, they must be enticed by something. So pastors, teachers, counselors, and religious cheerleaders constantly do what they can to entice people to live for God. But it will not work.

Churches are full of people who have been conned into a religious profession, a profession of godliness, who are utterly void of the knowledge of God. We live in a generation of religious people who are spiritually dead. Preachers are pulling their hair out trying to get people to live for God who do not know God. A religion that is all put on and pretense, sham and show, must be primed, pumped, pushed, and pulled to make it look like it is “on the go for the Lord.” But it is a vain, empty, useless, dead religion that leaves poor, deluded souls in utter confusion, disappointment, and frustration. What could be more frustrating than trying to live the Christian life without Christ? If we would live for God, we must have God living in us! If God lives in a person, that person will live for God. If God does not live within you, you cannot and will not live for him.

Don Fortner