“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” was the famous catch-phrase in the Popeye comic strip many years ago. The main idea was procrastination, in which he kept putting off his promise.
What does the word Wimpy mean? It means to be weak, cowardly or fearful. There is a lot of fear in this day and age with the terrorism in Afghanistan, corruption from dishonest leaders, violence in every walk of life, radical climate change resulting in famine, volcanic eruption and hurricanes- and now with this global pandemic in front of us and all of the mutated variants we fear for the health of family, friends and our children as they start a brand new school year.
Christians know that perfect love casts out fear, yet our love is not yet perfect. We get vaccinated, mask up, sanitize and keep a healthy distance from each other, yet there is still no guarantee that we will not get infected or have health issues in the future. Even before the pandemic arose many Christians often spiritually masked up and kept a great distance from their secular counterparts, trying to inoculate themselves from the viruses of unbelief.
We are to be in the world but not of it. We are to be light in darkness. We are to be salt to combat decay. That means we must penetrate the world with the Light of the World, who is Jesus. We need to get out of the saltshaker.
Everyone needs an injection, a divine infusion of grace to transform their lives. This can only happen when John 3:16 is applied to their own personal lives. “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.” Then nourishment must be given so they in turn will grow Healthy, Strong and Muscular in their faith.
Infants need milk as we all do, but we must move on to greater maturity. Hebrews 6 vs 13-14 “Anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching of righteousness.” Vs 14 “But solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
I close by offering two admonitions for everyone to ponder and apply.
1. If you are an unbeliever the antidote to sin is only found in Christ, who took the world’s global virus of sin and offers the free Grace of Eternal Life. Have you had that exchange, that wonderful transfusion of Life Eternal?
2. If you are a Christian, are you infantile in your faith? Are you weak, fearful and wimpy? If so, then I encourage you to develop a steady diet of daily prayer, meditating and studying the Bible daily, with discipline and a heartfelt desire to be more like Jesus as you grow more in the faith and knowledge of Christ.
Then and only then will you be able to grow from being WIMPY to becoming MUSCULAR Christians. That is my prayer for you in Christ.
Pastor Gary Tomiuck
Wainfleet Congregational Christian Church
