I am a recovering consumer Christian.
I would go to church when it was convenient for me and my family, or on big holidays. I had too much going on to serve or join a community group, and I would tithe whatever felt “extra” at the end of the month. I measured a sermon by what I got out of it and how engaging it was. Sometimes I’d even slip out early to make brunch plans.
Even when we committed to attending more consistently, I was still pretty lukewarm. I was hearing without really understanding—seeing, but not actually perceiving.
That kind of posture is dangerous because it doesn’t feel like rejection. It’s subtle. But over time, it shapes us.
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes from the perspective of a senior demon coaching a junior one on how to distract people from God. One line has always stuck with me: “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
It’s possible to be around truth regularly and still keep it at a distance.
Even now, it’s easy to slip back into that pattern—to tune out, to go through the motions, to hear without really responding. That’s why I often come back to a simple prayer inspired by Ezekiel 36:
“Jesus, remove my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh.”
I don’t want to just hear—I want to respond. I don’t want to just see—I want to perceive.
Jesus, fill our minds with what is true and good. Give us soft hearts, ears that hear, and eyes that are open. Help us not just take in truth, but live it out.
Amen.