Too Much Pergamum

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we have too much of the church of Pergamum in us. We would never deny You with our lips. But, oh, the saltlessness of our lives. We are, sadly, both in the world--and of it. We cringe when they call us "Haters of Humanity." In fear of the world's disapproval, we try so desperately to be like them, indistinguishable from them. We try so hard to live like they do--to be Christian in name and immersed in worldliness with our every breath. "Freedom" we call it as we wrap ourselves in the chains, burden ourselves with the weights that so easily beset us and make the race so debilitating. We live like slaves to the world's approval. We have hidden Your light under the basket of a practical atheism. Purify us Lord. Start with me.