Today's Christian is too concerned with the never ending quest of being entertained. They will focus their time and attention following these pursuits; while attending churches that play to these desires and ideas, for their own sake. They take no pleasure in the study of biblical history, teachings or spiritual concepts and therefore have no true knowledge of the true meaning of being a servant of Christ.
With their five senses they engage this world as if their physical existence is all that matters forgetting that it is but a vapor (James 4:14)
The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and night for the whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent and self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is here, assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as real and final. But complacency and sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we cannot see our true destiny, the City of God, shining around us. The world of sense triumphs. The visible becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal, of the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam's tragic race.
Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of entertainment in church and gospel meetings, the glorification of men and women, trust in religious externalizations and prosperity teachings, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, corporate motivational seminars disguised as spiritual training, the mistaking of dynamic personalities for the power of the Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of ignorance to the true word and ways of God, an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul and a tragic sign of the times we are living in.
For this great sickness that is upon the modern church no one person is responsible, and no one is wholly free from blame. All contributed, directly or indirectly, to this sad state of affairs. We have been too blind to see, to lazy to study or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied and deceived to desire anything better than this poor nutrient deficient diet while being satisfied with sweets and empty calories instead. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's false teachings and notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's experiences the model for our own as proven daily by the countless, continuous selfies and tweets on social media.
God and the spiritual world are real and is our true place of being. The problem is that we have established bad thought habits. We habitually and automatically think of the visible world and it's glories as real and disregard the reality of any other in our daily lives.
It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to biblical Godly ways. But it can be done. Throughout history Christian leaders, lead by God, have had to shake the world. History has recorded several large-scale returns to the true word of God and righteousness led by true men and women of God. Unfortunately there seems to be a vacancy at this time in the horizon at present.
What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a world-scale we can not claim to know: but what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face we do know and can tell others. Let any person turn to God in earnest, let them begin to exercise themselves unto godliness, let them seek to develop their powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and studying God's word while following His ways.
Any man or woman who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break themselves out of this trap in which they have been held, and will go to the Word of God itself for their spiritual standards while being quickened with what they find there.
If we truly want to serve God we must seek to be other-worldly to deliberately choose the teachings of Christ and the Kingdom of God as our main sphere of interest.
As we begin to focus upon God's Word and His commands the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the Word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23).
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Truly seeking to know God and serve Him instead of ourselves will enable us to see God even as is promised to the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). A new consciousness in our lives, guided by Christ will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel our Heavenly Father who is our life and our All. Only then can we truly serve and glorify God.