Old Time Religion

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last month about "today's" Christian. Has the new "deeper" preaching made me a better Christian than my parents and their parents. Has women's bible studies increased my ability to be a better wife, mother and christian worker. Has my dedication to "Through the Bible in a Year" really taught me more about the Lord. Have Care Groups, Life Groups, Bible Conferences and internet studies brought me closer to the Lord than my forefathers were.

I don't know!!! Right now I am missing "old fashioned" simple preaching 2 times a week. Wednesday night prayer meeting where we just pray and a song service where we sing hymns, choruses, bible verse songs and "new" music and never care what it is. Just enjoy it all.

Let me use my mother and father-in-law as examples. Before marrying my wonderful husband, we had been kids and teens together in the same church. Roy's mother had been saved as a young person and never missed a service. Roy's dad was the neighborhood drunk that we prayed for during each revival. In about 1956 Roy's dad was saved while watching Billy Graham on TV. I look at these 2 precious people as Godly examples of a christian life til each of their deaths.

1. they were always there. If the doors were open they just went. No questions, no debate just go
2. they tithed. no bible studies and conferences on giving. the word of God said do it so they did it.
3. they prayed before meals...simple again...Thank you Lord for the food......
4. they prayed and attended every night (usually 1-2 weeks) of revival. If anything else was planned during that week or 2 weeks it was canceled. They didn't miss revival meeting for baseball, football, school activities etc.
5. they prayed at bed time....Thank you Lord for the day... so simple and to us so very uneducated in how to pray
6. they read their bible every day...whatever the Daily Bread said to read
7. they studied their sunday school and training union lesson each day so that they were ready for their classes on sunday morning and sunday night.

The list goes on but the idea is consistent. They just lived the simple, faithful Christian life.

As I was discussing this with a friend a few days ago, my friend said; "but church wasn't their lives like it is ours. Our parents weren't involved in the church like we are" I've thought about that too and my response is.....maybe that's part of my problem. Church should NOT be my life. The Lord should be God's word tells me that "God is not the author of confusion". That seems to me to mean He is the author of order and peace.

There's an "Old" song that says "we need to get back to the basics of life". That's what I want. I want the basics again. I want to make a joyful noise again. I want to hear about Jesus..simple and basic.