Superficial Believers

I don't know what the percentage is, but I dare say that evangelical churches are filled with superficial believers. They live only to experience spiritual "highs." In seeking for good feelings, they have missed the truly joyful, happy, satisfying life. Make no mistake about it, there are wonderful feelings in the Christian life, but they are found only in knowing and obeying God's truth. True happiness comes as John McArthur describes it as the product of a "humble pursuit of God's truth and will and of conformity to it."

The first century had their share of such believers too. Paul speaks of them in Galatians 3:1-5. "O foolish Galatians!" (Gal. 3:1) "Are ye so foolish?" (3:3) "Foolish" is such a harsh word! But the Apostle was not calling them stupid. The word that he used here means "no mind" or "no understanding." The Galatian saints failed to use their spiritual intelligence when faced by the unscriptural, gospel-destroying teaching of the Judaizers. They were not using their heads. They were lazy! They had foolishly fallen into Judaistic legalism because they had stopped believing and applying the basic truths of the gospel that Paul had taught them and by which they had been saved.

We are neither saved nor sanctified in the Christian life on the basis of good feelings or attractive inclinations. Both are on the basis of God's truth in Christ. Christians who rely on self-oriented emotions instead of Scripture-oriented minds are doomed to be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. 4:14). When they judge an idea on the basis of how good it makes them feel or how nice it sounds rather than on the basis of its harmony with God's Word, they are in serious spiritual danger.

Questions to Ponder:
1. What do you think attracts most people to cults: (1) They are intellectually convinced the doctrines of the cult are true. (2) They find its teachings and practices appealing. Support your answer.
2. Does Paul's appeal to the Roman saints in Rom. 12:1-2 apply to "foolish" saints today? How?