Church of the Auditors

    No sane person would go to a church with the above name. It conjures up images of dreaded tax accountants picking apart your financial records looking for flaws. At my not-of-the-auditors church we are now studying James, specifically, the hearing and doing part of chapter one. That passage is about auditors. Auditors are those who read or hear the word but don't do anything about it, like people who look in a mirror, see what needs washing, combing or fixing up, and walk away without changing anything. After my Dad retired, he audited some classes at U of M. Auditing a class means you can show up and listen in but, since you aren't getting college credit, you do not have to do the assignments or take the tests. Dad did some anyway to maximize the benefit, but it is not required. Some people approach their job like an auditor, others treat their marriage that way, and many people audit church.

     I have always attended churches that preach the word of God, but I have always known that, if the Rapture happens on a Sunday, some of those long time church attenders will still be sitting in the pews. The church is not a magic box where sinners go in and saints come out. The Word of God will not change you unless you let it. That is why I do not pray for my adult loved ones to go to church, I pray that they will love God enough to want to go to church. God is not taking attendance, He is far more interested in our motivation than our location. The Jewish leaders of Jesus' time were the ultimate Auditors, they focused so much on outward compliance to the Law and traditions, they had no comprehension of the spirit of the law and no heart for God. Their seen-of-men motives culminated in murdering their own Messiah.

    I am not going to try to figure out who the Auditors among our flock might be. That is God's job, only He knows our hearts. Through faith in Christ, I know I won't be one of those sitting in the pews after the Rapture, but I want to make sure that the Bible I have heard, read and loved so long, still changes the way I live. I want to do the assignments and take the tests, so Christ can have all the credit.