Every year the editors of the Webster Dictionary pour over thousands of publications in search of new words or new definitions of old words. In 1982 a new word was added to the English Dictionary because of the amount of usage it received in the press and other places. What word am I talking about? It's the word (or phrase) "Couch Potato." According to the dictionary "Couch Potato" is defined as “a person disinclined to activity or exertion, especially  one who spends a great deal of time watching television.” 

Do you know anyone who fits that description? You can almost picture them sitting on the couch watching TV with a bag of chips in one hand the remote in the other hand and a blank stare on their face. Perhaps that even describes you? 

It is certainly not physically healthy to be a couch potato. The hours of inactivity coupled with the added calories of junk food leads to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and may even lead to heart disease, diabetes and other physical conditions that are detrimental to one's health and well being.

While being a "Couch Potato" is unhealthy from a physical perspective there's another condition which is just a dangerous to one's spiritual health. That's being a "Pew Potato." What is a "Pew Potato?"  It's someone who comes to church and sits on a pew but never does anything else They never try to help another person. They never seek to serve someone in time of need and never do anything to help the church (which is the body of Christ - Eph. 1:22-23) grow. They just come and sit - month after month, year after year. 

Are you a "Pew Potato?"

The Bible says that God created you and me for a life of service. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Just as our physical bodies are designed for exercise and exertion our spiritual lives have been created for the purpose of ministering to the needs of others. The reason why many people are miserable and empty is because they have never poured themselves into a life of service to others. They think everyone should be serving them.

            

We’re saved to serve. We are not saved to sit.  

In Segovia, Spain is a Roman aqueduct built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water fromthe mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow. A recent generation, however, saw the great aqueduct and said, "It is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children as a museum piece. We will relieve it of its centuries-long labor."

They laid new iron pipes to transport the water and gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. Almost immediately the aqueduct began to deteriorate and crumble. Without the flowing water to keep the mortar moist the brick and stones began to sag and collapse. What centuries of service could not do idleness quickly destroyed. So it is with our spiritual lives.  

Jesus said, "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave" (Mt. 20:26-27). There is no room for a Pew Potato in the kingdom of God.