A aqaintance of mine was asked back to his forty-year high school reunion. For months he saved to take his wife back to the place and the people he’d left four decades before. The closer the time came for the reunion, the more excited he became, thinking of all the wonderful stories he would hear about the changes and the accomplishments these old friends would tell him.

One night before he left he even pulled out his old yearbooks, read the silly statements and the good wishes for the future that students write to each other. He wondered what ol’ Number 86 from his football team had done. He wondered if any others had encountered this Christ who had changed him so profoundly. He even tried to guess what some of his friends would look like, and what kind of jobs and families some of these special friends had. The day came to leave and a friend drove him to the airport. "Have a good time, and tell me about it when you get back the friend said."

Sunday evening arrived. As his friend watched them get off the plane, the couple seemed almost despondent. He almost didn’t want to ask, but finally he said, “Well, how was the reunion?” “Tim,” the man said, “it was one of the saddest experiences of my life.” “Good grief,” the friend said, more than a little surprised. “What happened?” “It wasn’t what happened but what didn’t happen. It has been forty years, forty years—and they haven’t changed. They had simply gained weight, changed clothes, gotten jobs...but they hadn’t really changed. And what I experienced was maybe one of the most tragic things I could ever imagine about life. For reasons I can’t fully understand, it seems as though some people choose not to change.

There was a long silence as they walked back to the car. On the drive home, he turned to the friend and said, “I never, never want that to be said of me, Tim. Life is too precious, too sacred, too important. If you ever see me go stagnant like that, I hope you give me a quick, swift kick where I need it—for Christ’s sake. I hope you’ll love me enough to challenge me to keep growing.”

Christians and churches need to experience what this man experienced. A close friend of mine went to an ordination service in a church that he had worked in 5 years previous. He said when he went back it was like stepping back in time, that church had not changed one single bit. They hadn't grown spiritually or numerically. How sad. This really does happen to churches. They become complacent and Jesus himself said, hot or cold, he wants to spit luke warm out of his mouth. As a church we have got to move forward and not fall into the trap of complacency because it is very easy to fall into. Just look at churches with 300 members or more who have 2 or 3 decisions a month or sometimes a year. It's not at all healthy, and that certainly isn't the way God intended it to be.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!