Is it just me?  Or is there really a widening gap between what Christians should do and what they do?  When I recently used the word “should”,  I said as Christian’s we should … , I received the following response.  “Should? Ha Ha Ha, Like people always  do as they should.”

Why don’t Christians do as they should?  Why is this presented as such a ridiculous proposal that we as Christians live according to the code that is intended to identify who we are?  Am I the only one who is troubled when I frequently hear the statement, “Christians sin”?  Or when I hear Christians telling non-believers that they sin too, as if this will help draw people into accepting our way of life?  Am I out of step with reality, or is the American Church becoming irrelevant?  I see a widening gap between how Christians live and how they should live.  I think we are way past due for a revival in the Church.

I remember a few years ago when I was busy and it was getting late.  I wandered down stairs to find out that my daughter had not gone to bed yet.  I said, “It is late you should go to bed”, and then I went back to my task at hand.  Sometime later I went back down stairs to find that she had not gone to bed.   “I told you to go to bed, why are you not there?”  She replied, “You didn’t tell me to go to bed, you just said that I should go to bed”.  I was taken back.  “Go to bed”, I said.

I recognize that in time language changes, but principles remain the same.  To many people “should” has come to mean that action is not imperative, but optional.  As time goes on it seems like people’s response to doing the things that they should do is increasingly choosing the option to not do the things that we should.  This is having a devastating effect on how Christians behave.  It is affecting how Christians respond to the commands of God, they know what they should do, but they don’t.

The dictionary definition of the word “should”, is past of “shall”.  As Christians if we should do something, then it is something that we ought to do, and if you ought to do it, then DO IT.  How can we define ourselves as believers if we don’t respond in a positive way to the Word of the Lord?  There needs to be an adjustment in our thinking, if there is something that we should be doing, then let us be doing it.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” (Ps 37:3 AV)

Bob Gunderson