| High-maintenance Christians by Pastor Vic Edwards, Spurgeon Heritage Church |
| High-maintenance Christians are those that require a lot of attention and energy from others. Like a General Motors (or Ford... or Yugo - you choose) car, they continually need fixing and prodding to run. High-maintenance Christians, always seeking to have things done to and for them, sap the vitality of the church and other believers who are gracious and generous in providing assistance and support. While it is a great privilege and honor to receive help and support from our fellow Christians, when excessive garnering of such support and assistance becomes a style of life and dependency, that person is not walking according to the Spirit of God. The Scriptures are clear that we as believers are to "carry on another's burdens." But the self-same Scriptures reach just as clearly that "those who do not work do not eat," and that "each one is to carry his own load." The high-maintenance Christian is not carrying his/her own load, and is not in harmony with the teachings of the Bible. Unless constantly nurtured, patty-caked and encouraged by the brethern, these people will quickly fade and fall away from faithful duty to Christ. Like the old car mentioned before, such persons require constant repair and maintenance in order to remain on the road. We all have seen such person in our own lives. For instance, anyone who has supervised employees will immediately recognize this type of person. Unless constantly supervised and watched, they will, with almost perfect predictability, sluff off their work until once again prodded or threatened into getting back to work. Also, we have all had high-maintenance people in our pricate lives, those friends, relatives and mates that constantly need coddling and pampering to maintain their good favor. As soon as they are called upon to bear their own burden, they protest and complain that they have been abandoned or treated unfairly. In the faith, such persons are characterized by the Bible as "babes," those who are unable to endure "solid food," but who are in need of softer fare, and softer lives. They are immature and unlearned in the faith. Paul chastises such persons at Corinth: "And I brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" I Cor. 3: 1-3 The writer of Hebrews has similar charges against the Hebrew Christians: "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles [basics, if you will] of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." Heb. 5: 12-13 What is my point to all this? Well, it is my intent to admonish and encourage our members to grow to maturity in the faith, and to examine themselves to see whether they may be high-maintenance Christians. We must learn to advance in the faith so that we are not a constant burden to the church and to the other members. We must learn to become providers of support instead of users and consumers of services. We must follow the admonition of Paul who taught the Galatians that everyone "bear his own load" in the fellowship of the saints. High-maintenance Christians can have a most deleterious effect on the church fellowship. When much energy and many resources of the church are expended on but a few of its members, the whole church suffers loss. Evangelism is lessened, less financial support is available for members, and energies of many people are depleted, sometimes resulting in "benevolence burn-out." How do we go about changing or defeating this "high-maintenance" lifestyle? There really are no magical answer to this question. The change will occur as we grow in our faith and understanding of God's will for our lives and the church of which we are a part. It is not as though the Scriptures are silent on the issue, for see what Paul teaches the Romans in this regard: "Let love be without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another... distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality." Romans 12:9 - 12 "Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify [build up] the other." Romans 14:19 Paul also instructed the Thessalonians in this very issue of bearing one's own load. There were some high-maintenance Christians at Thessalonica, and Paul rebukes them for not carrying their portion of the load, but conducting themselves in idleness, letting others serve them instead of them service others. And not willing to just preach, Paul demonstrates the proper attitude in his own life among them: "nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge [as apparently some were doing], but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you." II Thess. 3:8 Page 2 |