The Danger of Familiarity
Dylan Stewart
One of the dangers of being around the things of God for a long time is that holy things can begin to feel ordinary.
Israel witnessed extraordinary things. They saw the plagues in Egypt. They watched God through Moses divide the Red Sea. They saw the glory of God descend upon Mount Sinai. They received miraculous bread from heaven. Yet, eventually, they complained about the manna. Some went so far as to say, “Our soul loathes this worthless bread” (Numbers 21:5). The food God miraculously provided from heaven became so familiar that they loathed it and called it worthless. See how familiarity can become dangerous when it dulls our appreciation for the goodness of God?
Today, we can hear the gospel preached so many times that the statement “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3) barely moves us anymore. We can sing about the cross so often that words describing the Son of God dying for us come out of our mouths while our minds are somewhere else entirely. We can assemble with Christians week after week until the privilege of worshiping God with His people becomes just another checkbox on the calendar rather than a source of strength (Hebrews 10:23-25). Partaking of the Lord’s Supper can become so routine that we are no longer experience any emotions as we contemplate the cost of our Lord’s sacrifice (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). We can pray so routinely that we forget what an extraordinary privilege it is that the Creator of heaven and earth allows us to “come boldly to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). We can hear the gospel invitation extended so often that its urgency no longer troubles our hearts, even when we know there are things in our lives that we need to change (Hebrews 3:15, 4:7).
Sometimes, we need to look again at the familiar things that God provides us and realize just how incredible they truly are. May we never become so familiar with the things of God that we stop appreciating them.