Articles
Is Church Your Hobby?
Is Church Your Hobby?
Bob Oliver
Jesus told of a number of people that will be surprised on the day of Judgment. They were the ones that Jesus said never ministered to him when he was hungry, or sick, or in prison. They replied that they never saw him in that condition. His response was that in that they didn’t minister to “the least of these my brethren” they did not minister to his needs.
I believe there may be another group of Christians that may also be surprised. These are the ones that made “church” their hobby. Jesus taught in Matthew 6:33 that we are to seek first the kingdom of God. In Ephesians 4:1 Paul writes, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” Your vocation is your “main” job. If you are a Christian, your main job is not your earthly work such as a carpenter, lawyer, business person, etc., it is your life in service to Christ. With that in mind, consider what we mean by having a “hobby”. A hobby is enjoyable. We tend to put our money into our hobby. We spend as much extra time as possible in our hobby. But also notice, a hobby is never first in our lives. We only put money that we can spare into it. We only put time we can spare into it. It can never be first. So if you let other things of this world, ball games, family, vacations, etc. come before the work and worship of the Lord, then your religion is a hobby. Expect a surprise in judgment!
