I love audiobooks. I probably like them so much because I spend a lot of time driving to the gym, church, on visits, and back home. I spend well over an hour in my truck daily. So needless to say I get to listen to a lot of books. A couple of years ago I was able to consume nearly 70 books in a year all due to using audiobooks. Another key reason for audio books is that I’m a slow reader and I can change the speed of an audio book whereas I cannot change the speed of my reading.

One of the books I read (listened to) recently had a concept in it that has been rattling around in my head. I cannot for the life of me remember which book it actually was but know this is not my own original content. I’m fairly certain this was from a book by Eugene Peterson however.

The idea is this the most religious places in the world are not churches, but battlefields and mental hospitals.

Wow that one hit me. Not sure why that stuck with me so tightly but I was hurt in my heart to hear that reality. And even more saddened to think it was probably a correct assessment of reality!

But why are mental hospitals and battlefields more religious than churches?

I think it has a lot to do with despair, desperation, and destruction. You see when we live in a world of despair and desperation it’s easy to realize that there’s really only one place to turn. When we’re face with life altering destruction, there’s really only one place that can change our perception of reality.

I really think that the church has it too easy. We have our well decorated buildings and our set structures. We have some nice tax benefits. We have the ability to do much more than we let on. We aren’t forced to do things that go against conscience or faith. It’s actually a pretty nice set up.

But what do you hear when you talk to Christians today? We hear about the trouble and hardships and struggles in the world. We hear people complaining about how challenging life is but what we’re not on a battlefield or in a mental hospital so it’s easy to complain instead of doing something about it.

Perhaps the church needs a few more battlefield moments. We need to come to grips with the challenges we face in moments of despair. The more we have the more comfortable we grow and the more we tend to take the things of God for granted.

We’ve heard the analogy that the church is the hospital for sinners but that’s just not enough. It’s not enough to admit that we need Jesus and that he saved us. Yes it’s essential but when it comes to the driving forward of our faith into real life, it just isn’t enough unfortunately.

It’s not until we’re met with disaster and devastation that we actually buckle our knees in prayer. It’s not until our loved one dies or our marriage is on the rocks that we really see the power of God in our lives. It’s not until our job is ended and our life hits a low point that God becomes God again.

I hate how true the statement is, but the church really could use a life altering moment or two in order for us to realize just how much we need God again.