Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday September 9, 2008

A friend and I were talking about the median age of our respective congregations and he bemoaned the fact that the average age of his people was in the high fifties and this explains the inability to get anything done. He looked at me with a matter of fact, "So, I am not expected to get anything done in the Lord's work. I have no young people."

There is no doubt that an aged congregation will have a different atmosphere than say a church filled with young married couples. Older biblical centered groups seem to vibrate with enthusiasm while the younger groups major on excitement. Enthusiasm and excitement appear to be much the same, but in reality they are poles apart.

Excitement is related to what is going on around you, a great sermon, a rafter rattling concert, or some sort of bragging right is as they say, "The living end, Dude." Excitement triggers must always be bigger, better, louder and ever more demonstrative. A losing team in any sport does not generate excitement. A church act that fails to reach the heights of last week's act leaves the excitable group flat.

Enthusiasm, unlike excitement is rooted in what is going on inside. The Greek is "entheos" and it means the god within. In the Christian sense it simply means that "Christ is going on inside of you, and your thoughts, feelings and actions are actuated by Him, on the inside." The scriptures assure that the well known secret of the Christian life is "Christ IN you the hope of glory."

An essential difference is that when excitement has run its course there is nothing left, except a real downer, depression and a sense of emptiness. I talk with church people often who express, "Larry, after all these years I feel totally empty on the inside." The truth is they ARE totally empty on the inside. Solomon pointed out that a life apart from true spirituality is totally empty when he wrote, "All is vanity."

This phenomenon is observable in every area of life, be it sports, church, business or the family. It seems that in most cases it takes awhile to come to grips with the difference between feeling so excited you could die, to understanding the value of enthusiasm, God working IN you whether you feel excited or not. If the speaker, singer or whatever fails to ring the bell, Christ is still alive, having moved from the tomb to your heart, and He is the captain of your soul.

Often people with whom you would disagree on most every point come up with a statement that clarifies an idea. Henry Ford put the fundamental difference between the excitement of youth and enthusiasm of age when he wrote:

"Almost all enduring success comes to people after they are 40. For seldom does mature judgment arrive before then."

The graying congregation does not need expensive Lattes to generate our sense of well being, we simply rely on Christ within. Okay, a little jigger of Geritol does help the old bones.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2008 Use with credit.

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