Infomercial Faith

My wife and most of her family have what I'm going to call "Infomercial Faith" They shop at Christian bookstores, listen to Christian music, spout Christian pithy sayings, decorate their homes with Christian decorations and read Christian self-help books. Their faith is anagalous to buying something from QVC or Tony Little. Improve your relationship with God for only 19.99! With three easy steps, you can work your way into heaven! Christianity has found a slick marketing plan and plenty of suckers to buy into it. Now, don't get me wrong. Just because you bought it on the Home Shopping Network doesn't mean it's not a good product. Likewise, I'm not saying my wife and her family have faith based on a marketing plan without any true connection with God. Hey if a snappy marketing plan or a good dose of guilt works, that's fine by me. But I am suspicious of anyone whose faith is strongly influenced by all of the Christian material available today. I believe it is a facade, a false front, that can hide true faith. It can make someone who has no relationship with God appear to have a good one. Even worse, the person using the material may not realize it's a facade either. The material itself is not bad. In fact, much of it is good, helpful reference material. However, it must be used carefully and must not be the center of your relationship with God. No book, video, or song can significantly improve your chances of achieving and enjoying Eternal Life. Nor can any Church or other organized group activity. All of these things can be helpful. All of these things can provide guidance and knowledge and occassionally praise or reminders of God's Power and Grace. But ultimately Spiritual Truth can only come from one place - one on one time with God.