Happy St. Patrick's Day! See, another benefit of writing on Saturdays, I get to celebrate with you one of the holidays they don't adjust to a Monday. Lots of green things to say today. Yet, for some reason I cannot think of a single one. The athletic shenanigans continue on the basketball courts, and wasn't it fun to see not one but two big upsets yesterday? I must admit to being perhaps the most casual of college basketball fans. I don't even care what happens until the big tournament at the end of the season, and even then it has to compete against preseason baseball for my viewing time. To the basketball fanatic faithful, I am worse than the crooked court, more infamous than the four-point foul, even more despicable than the greased free throw line, and more looked down upon than the blind ref. I like it when the top seeds fall in the first round (the second round now, but even I didn't come up with that). I am a lane violation with a flying elbow to the top-seed matches in the final four. I am the casual fan. Let the underdogs spoil the big show. Bust the brackets wide open! Long live the Richmond Spiders!
Actually, there is something worse than that. The Casual Christian. You see him in church once in a while, but there is no worship in his heart. You see her at the pot luck dinner telling tales from the grapevine, but there is no repentance in her spirit. When the call goes out to serve they are nowhere to be found. The church treasurer will never find an offering with their name on it. The sermon is a good chance to nap; the hymns are hummed; the whole service isn't nearly entertaining enough, and "Sunday stuff" is never mentioned in their home. We may not even know who the Casual Christian is, they can put up a good front. However, when the final game is played out, they will be there expecting to receive the trophies. You may be questioning your Christian behavior even now, but that isn't the point here.
To the Casual Christian, the Christian life is a game where the minimum requirements are met to get into Heaven. The Casual Christian is concerned with being good enough, and occasional church attendance is a part of that. Saying the right things now and then balances out the disparaging comments about a coworker to get ahead. Gossipping is just what 'everyone' does, so that is okay to the Casual Christian. In fact, most of what the Casual Christian considers 'good' is judged by watching others. The Casual Christian believes in the cosmic scales of good and evil. God will weigh their works and see that they are good enough because they did just enough. This is serious, because God can more easily convince a dedicated opponent of Christ than a person who has stamped themselves as righteous. The Casual Christian has called himself a Christian without knowing what it means to be a Christian. How can even the best of pastors say the right thing to break through a defense like that? Not that the Holy Spirit won't try. The best thing to happen to a self-righteous Casual Christian may seem like the worst of things in this world.
Many a Christ-one has been born again in repentance from the floor of a jail cell, looking up from a hospital bed, at the death-bed of a loved one, or at the end of the financial rope of bankruptcy. We always have a Savior standing ready to answer those who will look up and repent. There is hope in Christ for the Casual Christian just as there is for the dedicated sinner.
God be with you,Bucky
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