Dabbling

Many people dabble in a lot of different things. Some dabble in painting, crafting, gaming, animal training, sewing, quilting, horseback riding, gardening, or you name it. There are many areas and things in life for a person to play around with or dabble. 

Sometimes dabbling can lead to destruction. People dabble in drugs or alcohol and it takes over their lives eventually. Some dabble with flirting. They are married and continue to flirt with those of the opposite sex or maybe they are single but flirt with a married person. This is dangerous for all involved. Some dabble in gambling, they just partake once in awhile yet eventually, this can lead to very destructive patterns or major debt. 

As a pastor's wife, one of the things that I watch people dabble in is church. They dabble around in attendance or involvement or tithing or helping or whatever, where church is concerned. This can be frustrating for pastors and church leadership to watch. People do not take church seriously. It is just a place to come on Sunday mornings, when nothing else is pressing, so that the person can meet an obligation and feel like "Super Christian". They do not bother to be on time, to dress as though they expect to meet with the Lord, to come with a heart and mind ready to be spoken to from God's Word, or with an attitude of servitude. They dabble! They think they can play around with church attendance and not have their lives fall apart or their kids to go astray or leave the church as soon as they are old enough. When you dabble at something it is just something you do once in awhile. Some people dabble with photography. They go out and take pictures once in awhile or do photo shoots for someone occasionally. They are not serious about really making a living at it but enjoy dabbling around in it. This is the approach of so many with church. Dabbling in church attendance is when you show up when it fits into the schedule or there is nothing else you want to do but you have no intention of getting serious about it or committing to it or being faithful. Maybe they enjoy the service when they are present but they can really take it or leave it. They have no intention of ever allowing themselves to be convicted by the preaching and making lifestyle changes. Church is just there. It is what they are supposed to do, so they go when they feel like getting around to it. Then when their children go astray they try to convince everyone that they did right and raised their kids in church but really the children saw the lack of commitment, they saw what really mattered, they saw what took precedence over God. Kids are smart. They also see when you live at home different than what you do at church or what you "Amen" about at church. Kids see hypocrisy! 

Dabbling in hobby type things can bring enjoyment but dabbling in things that should be taken seriously, can only lead to something bad or catastrophic in the future for yourself or those around you. 

Think about and evaluate whether or not you are dabbling with church. Maybe you do not even realize that you are but this woke you up and you need to decide to commit to finding a good, Bible believing and teaching church and get involved and be faithful.