In yet another part of the world, a missionary sits at the breakfast table with his wife and three children. The electricity is off again, and they've not had a working phone for weeks. The water in the gravity-fed rooftop tank is getting low. They spend time praying for one another and the many tasks that lie ahead, and they take strength in the fact that there is no doubt that they are held in the center of God's hand obediently experiencing His perfect will.

At this same instant, beneath the old and majestic arms of a ceibo tree, a group of about 250 gather to hear a pastor teach from the book of John. It is mid-afternoon, and just outside the protective shield of leaves the sun is beating down at an incredible 108 degrees. This church has been meeting outdoors for about two years, and during the rainy season they have to rethink arrangements so they make it through the brief summer downpours. They are praying for the day when they will have an adobe structure with a tin roof that will give a bit more permanence to the meeting schedule. The downpours will still challenge them, but now only because of the deafening rain beating on the tin.

On a remote arid hillside an angry mob led by their local religious leaders has just finished bringing a small church building to the ground with their heavy clubs and rocks. They had warned the evangelicals before to stop preaching Jesus and to leave the area "or else". Just steps away the pastor and one of his leaders lie in a pool of their own blood. They will never again meet with their congregation, because they've now joined the swelling ranks of modern day Christian martyrs who have died for the privilege to name Jesus Christ Lord and Savior.

Elsewhere a brother has just crawled into his hammock following an extremely long and physically draining day. Through the aches and tiredness he gives thanks to God for his safety as he was able to testify to the power of Christ. In the heat of the night, under the veil of his mosquito net, he will drift off to sleep in anticipation of tomorrow's new adventure.

And while all of this happens around the world, as we breathe gently and take ease in our abundance, a quick inventory of our situation reveals that for the most part we are producing another generation of spiritual pygmies in the United States of America. Now if we were supposed to be of small spiritual stature, this would be no problem, but God's purpose for us is that we grow to be mighty men and women of God, even giants of faith.

With massive monuments to our religious pursuits and billions upon billions of dollars invested in external decorations and creature comforts that cater to our personal desires, we must admit that we have it extremely easy. We'll not wonder about where to gather with the brethren this next week, nor lose a moment's rest worrying about or facing persecution of biblical proportions.

Our greatest struggles will likely come when we are offended by brother so-and-so who criticized the way we set the thermostat or failed to return all of the stainless steel kitchenware to its proper place. Instead of dealing with climate, impassable roads, flooding rivers, extreme poverty, and bandits waiting to attack, too many of us will come up with newer and better reasons to rationalize our failure to share Jesus in our beautifully landscaped communities among a people group just as spiritually lost as the tribe or clan 8,000 miles from here.

In contrast to a people who sit on logs and spend hours in the dust and heat for the blessed privilege to worship God, fellowship with the brethren, and learn new and exciting truths from God's Word, we will draw angry battle lines in the sand, invent lies about other Christians, and rarely read (much less study) the Bible to see what God is saying in a personal and intimate way. As long as we can look busy and stay moderately active inside our buildings it matters very little what we do or say on the outside.

This will fuel our descent into lower mediocrity and spiritual immaturity, and our children, grandchildren, and many acquaintances will repeat even more frequently that well-known refrain, "I don't need church, because I'm just as good as they are." Shamefully it's not their goodness being called into question but rather our badness. They don't need church, because we are as bad as they are.

This is not rocket science. Many people do not recognize our Christian faith or seek out Jesus for the simple reason that we do not love as we should. Jesus said clearly in John 13, "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." If the lost are not coming to Christ we must accept the responsibility in great part, because we do not love one another. Who wants to be part of a body that fails to patiently love the very members of the church or is just as dysfunctional and ill-behaved as the family or group of whom they are already a part?

2 Timothy 2 instructs the diligent believer, "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." This is an oft quoted verse designed to encourage and motivate us to the great task of teaching godly principles and truth. Unfortunately, the concept may be applied in a destructive way. We are raising countless numbers of spiritual pygmies in our congregations, because the negative and harmful things we see and hear are being passed on to other less faithful members, "who shall be able to teach others also." Instead of a beautiful design always being applied for holy purposes, there are far too many in our churches teaching and learning wrong attitudes and behavior. This ugly cycle is repeated from one generation to another resulting in spiritually impoverished churches with more and more of our children electing to no longer associate with church. In this sense we are losing the battle on two fronts, decay within and disinterest without.

God is our only sure hope. Until we strike out on a disciplined journey with the Lord, moving beyond the pablum, soft lazy chairs, and selfish comforts our affluence brings, we will not know personally what it means to "attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body's growth and builds itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:13-16)

Lord of Heaven and Earth, impress us heavily with the imperative to "grow in every way."