A.D.D. Christianity
I was once told a very cheesy joke by a friend. He asked, how many how many A.D.D. people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? As I opened my mouth to reply, he burst out with the statement, "wanna ride bikes!" I chuckled, one because it was cheesy, and two because I didn't want him to realize that I didn't get it. It was not until I found out what the true definition of A.D.D. was that I found more hummer in the statement. Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) can be described a chronic condition including attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. People that experience this disorder have a hard time staying focused on tasks set before them and often become easily distracted. This disorder was officially recognized in the 1960, but it wasn't until the mid 1980's that was more widely prescribed as a diagnosis. Over time people have adopted this to be their excuse for why they cannot stay on task or pay attention to simple instruction. It is my belief that we may use this definition and understanding to identify most Christians within the generation we live in.
It has been my experience in dealing first hand with the church of this generation, that we are experiencing a rapid rise in what I am calling the A.D.D. Christian. This is not the person that has the serious problem that has to take medicine for it, or the person who has a hard time paying attention in the churches learning environment. This person is that person that is easily distracted in their Christian walk, which hinders them from doing the minimal tasks placed upon them. Really it is not a problem of being distracted its a problem of importance. What is more important? What is preferred? If I was to sit down a bowl of broccoli and a bowl of Ice Cream beside most kids, and asked them to choose which one they would prefer first, it is no doubt that Ice Cream would win out. It would be the choice of the day because it is simply more pleasurable. This is the theory of Christians today, making impulsive choices that are dictated souly on what is more pleasurable or what we deem more important.Lack of importance on Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance, are issues that are my main concern, because it produces anemic Christians and leaves an anemic church. Things like faithfulness to the ministry, advancement of the Great Commission, Stealing the Glory of God and haphazard leadership are serious issues that are all formulated by A.D.D. Christianity. With a lack of prayer and Bible reading there is no growth in a persons Christianity simply because their is no communication with God and a lack of communication produces a lack of relationship. Tell me how your marriage would turn out if you came home from work sat down on the couch and never spoke to your spouse? It would be a train wreck! This is true about your relationship with Christ! To solve this issue one simply needs to communicate with him again.
Church attendance is a whole issue on it own. No other generation has ever seen people who held faithful church attendance in such a low esteem. This has been proven by geeky polester and pastoral statisticians, both of which I am not, in many blogs an websites, you may look this information up for yourself or trust me. The Bible encourages the Church (Body of Believers) not to forsake the assembling of itself. However, we are seeing Christians do it regularly in Churches all over the U.S. The question is why? Most people want to blame the Church for these problems, and in some cases they may be correct, yet I find it more to be a problem of a Christian that has an Attention problems. They live their lives with a unique view of fulfilling their own desires. It's understandable to have the occasional miss of church for sickness, or planned vacation. Yet missing the institution that God placed in existence to help you and your family for: ballgames, working out, catching up on work, birthday parties, etc. is not conducive with Christian growth. Faithfulness is the key to growth. If I want to loose weight (which I am told by my wife and Doctors I need to) would it be okay for me to eat healthy every other week, and work out every other month? I think we agree this is a ridiculous way to attempt to loose weight. I would need to be consistent, and faithful to the regiment set before me. How does a person expect to make gains in their Christian life picking and choosing when they are going to go to church, which is the weight-room of your soul.
The questions then should be posed, are you an A.D.D. Christian? Are you focus on everything in your own "world" without holding God in the position he needs to be? Are you reading your Bible? Are you Praying? How is your Church Attendance? What are you forsaking the assembly for? Are you making gains in your Christian Walk? I personally do not want to be the man I used to be, I want to make gains everyday, and for me to achieve this I need to remain focus and "press toward the prize of the high calling which is in Christ Jesus."
