Recently, I was checking out Franklin Graham’s Decision America Tour to find out when he plans to come to Indiana and found some interesting terms and figures. The population of Indiana is 6,597,000. That’s a lot of people. According to the figures they gave, 74% of these people are listed as “casual Christians” and 16% as “captive Christians.” I found these terms especially interesting. The word, casual, is understandable….but what exactly is a captive Christian?
Does this mean that 90% of the people in Indiana profess to be Christians but only 16% of them are truly dedicated to following Christ? Or maybe 74% have their names on a church membership list, but only 16% regularly attend services? Either one of these I suppose could be true.
The word captive, to me, sounds like someone is being forced to do something against their will. The dictionary defines captive as: taken or being held prisoner. God doesn’t force Himself or His will on us in any way. This is why I questioned the use of the word. Although we pray that His will and not ours be done, we are free to act either way…. Not as prisoners, but willing followers.
Captivating means: “to capture the attention or affections of.” God certainly does this. He has captured my attention in many ways at the exact time I needed Him to….and He has my affection. But this defines Him and who He is….not me as a Christian. So maybe a better term would be: Captivated Christians.
In any case, which do we prefer to be counted as, the casual Christian, or one who is truly dedicated to following Christ? The faithful among us will put down our cell phones and tablets and open up our Bibles. Perhaps we could disconnect with Facebook and really start to connect with people on a one-to-one basis. If we all work at it and share the love of Jesus with everyone we possibly can, maybe we can move from being 74% casual Christians to being 100% dedicated believers who share a relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved us enough to give His life that we might be saved.
At 74% that leaves 1,913,220 people in Indiana alone who need to hear about Jesus. This is not the time to be casual about our faith or insensitive to the needs of those around us. Let us be much in prayer as we go about our Father’s business.
By the way, Franklin Graham plans to be in Indianapolis on October 5, 2016. Let’s all try to be there, or in your own state capital, and join him in praying for God’s continued blessings on the church and our nation.
