A Difficult Part of Growing Up in the Church

Where's the zeal?

I’ve noticed something strange in my years as a Christian, and I’ve talked to enough others to know I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. Maybe you have, too.

People who come to Christ as adults are often more passionate, dedicated followers than those who were born and raised by a churchgoing family.

This is not universally the case, but it happens often enough to be notable.

It’s not unlike what I experienced growing up in Colorado. People would come from hundreds of miles away to ooh and ahh at the purple mountain majesties.

I can’t say I had the same reaction every morning as I looked at them while eating breakfast. Even the most incredible things in life can lose their pop when familiarity sets in.

In the same way, the wonder of our salvation can be taken for granted when you’ve known the story of Jesus your whole life.

Why does this happen, and what can we do about it?

First, there’s the issue of sin

Because there is not a clear, black-and-white, before-and-after change from a life wildly rebellious against Christ to one brought under His control, it’s almost as if I struggled to feel as though I was ever truly lost. Those who were in the world, without a church family, living for themselves have a clear contrast that we lifers can lack.

This bears similarities to the discussion of Gentiles and Jews in Romans 1-2. The pagan Gentile world was clearly degenerate and separate from God. But Israel, knowledgeable of the Law though they were, were also condemned by their deeds.

As Jesus said, “he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47b). We have to remember that we’ve been forgiven much, too, and there are no “little sins.” Even the cleanest living church attendee is separated from God if they are in their sins outside of Christ.

Still, knowing that fact might not provide the same punch as the before-and-after contrast. That’s where the next step comes in.

Second, we have to think generationally

You and I may not have been pulled out of worldly living, but family members before us were. I don’t have to look too far down the branches of the family tree to see all kinds of sins and the misery they caused. By God’s grace, He didn’t just save me from sin’s ugliness. He saved generations of us.

Up to a point, many of my ancestors were lost and likely headed toward eternal punishment. I may have followed right along with them. But, generation by generation, that changed. Look at the heartache all around you and rejoice that, somewhere in our families’ past, God has delivered us from it.

The clearest example of this mindset is found in the prodigal’s story (Luke 15:11-32). After his bout of forsaking the family for wild living, the prodigal son places the utmost value on being in his father’s house because he has a clear contrast of the blessings within versus the poverty without. He is the “new convert” who comes home full of zeal for the beauty of his father’s house.

The older brother, meanwhile, lacks the same zeal. He’s just been there the whole time, plodding along with his chores. He does not have the same exuberant outlook of his brother. But that’s only because he wasn’t paying attention to how blessed he was to be with his father (15:31).

The advantage of those who grew up in the church is that, by God’s grace, we’ve never had to ask ourselves if pig slop would be worth a taste. We don’t need to spend any time in the pig sty to know what a blessing that is.

So, that new Christian zeal might not come to fruition for those of us who have been singing “Jesus loves me” since we could barely walk. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Otherwise we might fall into the trap of thinking that a worldly lifestyle is a preferable precursor to conversion. New converts would want their children to avoid the church and find it from the outside rather than the inside. And we know neither of those are the right response.

Instead of looking for a feeling to validate our Christianity, giving thanks for where we are and what has been done for us should give us the firm, lasting joy God offers. The more we appreciate Him, the more we build a zeal that is not conditional on how we came to the faith. It’s one that can be passed through the generations, just as He always intended (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

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Notes

I’m excited to announce a book release!

I’ve taken up the project of finding classic works of the Restoration Movement that are out of copyright and formatting them with a clean new look for re-publication. First up is J.W. McGarvey’s A Treatise on the Eldership.

This book is next in line in my read-through podcast series, so grab a copy and get ready to come along for the breakdown.

As always, if you enjoy the articles and podcasts here, I hope you’ll consider becoming a supporting subscriber. As a token of my thanks, you’ll get 4 eBooks with a subscription.