To question or probe such figures can give the impression of a sour hyper-Calvinism, or a temperamental tendency towards pessimism, but analysis is surely necessary if we are to speak clearly and authoritatively to the Church and the world. Among all of the figures, and all of fostering of hope among Christians that the tide might be turning on secularism, how do we measure if a society, individuals, or churches desire to truly draw near to God? What metric can we use to ascertain the genuineness and longevity of an early interest in coming to Christ?

One of the many vulnerabilities of the contemporary evangelical church is a stubborn mistaking of quantity for quality. This can be true at a local and global church level where attendances (or more recently ‘hits’ and ‘likes’) can be the marker for how well things are progressing and how much interest is being shown. It can be evident in statistical analysis of the growth of the gospel in the world, which does not bore down deeply into the nature of the ‘gospel’ being believed in, nor the fruit that it is bearing. We are readily fixated on figures, and often filter our view of the influence of a minister, a ministry, or even of Jesus Christ himself, based on numbers.

This problem has become increasingly evident in the first half of 2020, as society and the Church seek to adjust to the Covid 19 crisis. We are rightly excited at the numbers of people who are re-engaging with religion, who are willing to take gospel literature, and who are tuning in to church services. It is with excellent warrant that we celebrate the final insufficiency of humanism to meet the needs of humans, and that a hunger for transcendence marks the minds and anxieties of those around us. We should rejoice, and seek to exploit to the full, the fact that there is a greater listening ear to what the Bible has to say, that people are reading it and questioning it for themselves. The British press recently reported that at one point during lockdown 40% of people in the United Kingdom were tuning into religious broadcasts online.

To question or probe such figures can give the impression of a sour hyper-Calvinism, or a temperamental tendency towards pessimism, but analysis is surely necessary if we are to speak clearly and authoritatively to the Church and the world. Among all of the figures, and all of fostering of hope among Christians that the tide might be turning on secularism, how do we measure if a society, individuals, or churches desire to truly draw near to God? What metric can we use to ascertain the genuineness and longevity of an early interest in coming to Christ?

In this post, I want to suggest that one key doctrine provides a gauge on where people are in relation to the gospel and God, namely repentance. This facet of biblical truth lifts a lid on where hearts are in relation to the Lord, it exposes motive, it diagnoses misunderstandings, and it might just be the area of God’s revelation that we most urgently need to highlight before the hearts of Christians and non-Christians alike.

Love Like a Morning Cloud

The Scriptures often scrutinise the motivation of those who claim an interest in Christ and the gospel. Occasionally such scrutiny is unwarranted on the part of Christians (think Saul in Acts 9:26), and sometimes it is so neglected that false professions arise unnoticed (think Simon the Magician in Acts 8). More often, however, it is God who assesses the depth and sincerity of those who claim to seek him, and there is a sad drop-off rate of apparent believers when we look at things through his eyes.

Across the corpus of Scripture there are instances of those who wish to flee consequences rather than to flee corruption, a kind of rash and rushed evacuation of the scene of the crime for fear of being incriminated, rather than handing oneself in, racked with guilt and a consciousness of offence. This was the case during the days of Hosea’s ministry in which he confronted the nation with their need, but in which early responses were proven to be self-seeking and self-serving. Hosea 6:1-3 disarms readers and has divided scholars precisely because at this point in the prophecy it sounds as though God’s people have repented. There is a desire to return (v1), there is an acknowledgement of consequence (‘he has torn us’, v2) and there is a reassurance that God will act and answer their prayer (v2).

God’s response is entirely deflating. The love of the people is passing ‘like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away’ (Hosea 6:4). What could pass for repentance is actually further evidence of their rebellion, a profane bargaining with God so that they might obtain a ‘get out of jail free card’. What was being sought was God as temporal deliverer, rather than God as personal Saviour, a kind of 999 (or 911) call to the precincts of heaven so that harm might be avoided. This light repentance, often supplemented with unacceptable sacrifices, has the effect of intensifying rather than mollifying God’s anger.

The claimed 40% attendance at online church services is matched by the same percentage of people in the UK who have written their wills in response to Covid 19. These two numbers may or may not be related, but they do at least reveal that people are concerned chiefly about mortality, rather than necessarily about eternity. Part of the human response to existential threat might be to consult a solicitor, and possibly seek out a priest for good measure – all in an effort to prepare for, or to avoid, meeting the undertaker. There can be a hedging of bets, a sending of envoys to the shore of heaven in case we need good passage there should we be shipwrecked by our present problems. This might serve as a fresh line of communication for keen and sensitive evangelists to follow up, but it is no measure at all of proximity to coming to Christ.

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