March 23, 2021
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Well, you know, I've had the opportunity to be close to folks who own several horses. And "City Boy" learns a lot about our equine friend. For example, I now understand that old cliché, "eating like a horse." They really do, in fact, to the point of overeating sometimes. Which, as I understand, it can lead to a painful and even deadly condition called foundering. I looked up "founder" in the dictionary and when it comes to horses, it's defined as "to become ill from overeating." Again, as "City Boy" understands it, when a horse eats too much grain or hay or grass, it can have painful gas build up inside. One way you can tell they're foundering is if they become lethargic, just kind of lying on the ground a lot. In its worst case, foundering can actually be fatal. The horse owner's job at a time like that is to just walk and walk with the horse, making sure it gets exercise. To neglect foundering can actually cost a horse's life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Ill from Overeating."
If that's what foundering is, then God has plenty of His people who are foundering. They're ill from overeating spiritually. You can tell because they're spiritually lethargic; going to all the meetings, filling up on all the teachings and fellowship, believing all the beliefs but not doing much with what they've been learning all these years. They're in effect, overfed and under exercised. And as they lie down in the pasture, they're not really enjoying their faith much. To be honest, maybe you've been foundering lately.
God talks about people who are all settled down in their comfy pasture in our word for today from the Word of God in Amos 6:1. He says, "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria." For us, "Zion" and "Mount Samaria" are whatever our secure little spiritual nest is: our church, our ministry, our Christianity. But God says if you belong to Him and you're lethargic and complacent, you're in trouble!
In fact, just a few verses earlier, God says how unimpressed He is by all their religiosity. "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them...Away with the noise of your songs" (Amos 5:21-23). God says, "I'm tired of you just going through the motions. I'm tired of you playing church. I want to see you living what you profess...getting out and doing something for Me, not just coming to My meetings!"
Maybe you've been pretty much, well let's call it a spiritual consumer; just kind of stuffing yourself with more teaching, more fellowship, more meetings, more blessing. But all of that is meant to be fuel for you to be actively making a difference for your Lord. If you just keep eating spiritually and not getting any spiritual exercise, you're foundering! Knowing it without doing it is dangerous. Knowing it without sharing it is dangerous.
If your Christian life is mostly passive right now, it's no wonder you're spiritually bored and you're living in a false security that everything is OK. It's not. You're foundering...you're ill from overeating and under exercising. But today could be your day to get up, get busy, and start experiencing what it is to run in God's pasture, not just graze in God's pasture!