God’s Will in the Little Things

So, God has been dealing with me for a while now on the topic of obedience.  As I have been studying Jeremiah and Exodus, I’ve come to realize that obedience is all about what God has designed and directed. It has nothing to do with my own wants and desires, other than to please Him. Who does He want me to become? What is He expecting from me? At the end of the day, He desires that I be holy.  

Pastor ministered this morning about the fact that we are always looking for God’s Will in our big decisions, but in order to get those answers, we have to live each day in His Will. The Lord told Moses and Aaron in Lev 11:44, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” That is His Will for us – that we be holy (set apart for God’s service, sacred, separated from the common). Everything else comes out of that. If we're successful in business or wealthy or have it all together by worldly standards, but we're not holy, we are NOT in His Will. 

We are expected to be different from the world. The closer we get to God through Jesus, the stronger our relationship with Him as we walk out this life. The stronger our relationship, the more we know God’s heart and the more we are changed to look and behave like Him. As we study His Word, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2). As we are transformed and we walk with God, we know His voice and follow His leading. We stop attempting to align His Will with ours and we surrender our will to His (Prov 3:5-6). As we follow His leading and are obedient in the small things, the everyday, God brings us to bigger things (Luke 16:10).

So, as Pastor said today, if you’re looking for God’s Will in the big stuff, start with small things today. Who is God making you today? How can you be closer to Him today? If what you’re doing draws you away from Him, ask Him to remove it. We can make as many plans for our future as we want, but tomorrow is not promised (Jam 4:14). All we have is today. Use the time wisely.

Partial Obedience is Sin

I began this entry a while ago and I left it after a few sentences. Apparently, that wasn’t the time for this one. I needed some additional experiences with our Heavenly Father to do it justice. 

How long has it been since you looked at your life and yourself? I mean really evaluated where you are in Jesus. I am one who regularly seeks feedback to see where I am and how I’m doing. I really thought I was doing okay. I don’t blatantly sin. I donate consistently to church. I give to those less fortunate. I believe in the truth and integrity. I believe in loving God with all of my heart, mind and soul. I believe in loving other people as myself. I believe in being fair and consistent. I believe God is Master and Lord. But, do I really? 

I’ve asked myself that question recently because the Lord has been working on me. And I was disappointed with the answer. James indicates that if we know what is right to do and we don’t do it, it is sin to us (Jam 4:17). Recently a pastor said, partial obedience is sin. God doesn’t want partial obedience; He wants our total surrender. That has resonated with me more and more over the past week or so when I realized I thought I had a choice about how I do things and when. 

For example, I know I need to exercise or work out most days, not necessarily to lose weight, but because it is good for my body – it strengthens my heart, lungs, muscles; it helps to lower blood pressure and glucose levels, etc. Exercise is good for our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so it should be a well-kept temple. When we neglect the bodies, God gave us to steward, we are neglecting God’s property – remember we don’t belong to ourselves. When we know something is right to do and we don’t do it, it is sin to us. In this regard, I have been sinning and therefore in rebellion to God. Yes, it’s about exercise and I didn’t really feel like doing it. I don’t like it. But since when did God consider my likes or wants when He gives me direction? He doesn’t. 

I have been operating as if I have a choice in what I do or don’t do. And the reality is that I do have a choice, but it wasn’t the one I thought. I have the choice to obey God or not obey God. If I ask Him to order my steps, but when He does, I say no to Him or decide I know better/different, but that is sin to me. I either do what He says when He says it or I don’t. My likes or desires don’t weigh into the direction or guidance God is giving. If we look at any of the stories in the Bible, we don’t see God qualifying His directives or promises based on what anyone liked. I’m sure Moses would have liked not to lead a rebellious people (Num 14), but He took up the mantle and led millions of Israelites to freedom. Jesus prayed that the bitter cup of the crucifixion would pass Him by (Matt 26:36-46), but He was willing to go to the cross for us knowing what He would face and how we would throw His gift back at Him. I’m sure Paul did not want to be beaten or shipwrecked or almost killed (2 Cor 11:25-33), but He understood that what God had for him was better than what he could provide for himself. The impact of being obedient in each case changed the world. 

What about you? What has God called you to do, but you decided now wasn’t the time or it made you uncomfortable? To what directive or call have you told God “No”? Take a long hard look at yourself. Are you being obedient to God? Or doing things because they align with your own will? If it’s the latter, repent. Repent, quickly! Motive matters. Obedience means doing what God calls us to do even when we don’t agree or it makes us uncomfortable or we don’t know how God will do a thing. The fact is that we don’t need to know – we just need to obey. Turn to God and get on board to do what He called you to do. Think of what He can do in and through you. Remember, obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings punishment and judgement (Deut 28). Obedience is the better choice!

God’s Way or Destruction?

Many of us like to think of God as a gentle father who never gets angry and never chastises His children….He supports them in anything they want to do and forgives with no sense of consequences for the actions they take in violating His rules. Unfortunately, that is a different God than the one I serve. The God (3 in 1) who I serve is a just God who holds us all accountable. He is a good, good Father. He loves us with a love we can not measure or fully understand. He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die in our place when we didn’t give a care about Him…when we were in fact His enemies (John 3:16). He is also a God who is Holy and because of that, He requires that His own be Holy. 1 Peter 1:15 states it this way, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” What does Holy mean? Holy means to be set aside in the service of God, or dedicated to His service. Obedience is a huge part of that. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

All of this leads into the topic – God’s way or destruction. Those are the only real options we have personally or globally. Over the past few months, I’ve been studying the prophets Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel. They were contemporaries but three very different prophets with three very different experiences associated with the fall of Jerusalem. However, they all experienced the fall of Jerusalem because God’s people were disobedient and did not follow God’s leading and instruction, so God used their enemies to bring about His judgement on the nation. He didn’t stop there. Because the nations He used, were so prideful many of them were utterly destroyed. 

In each of these cases, the nations were like many of us, they wanted to do what we wanted to do with no negative consequences and because it was them and they thought they had accomplished these defeats in their own power, they thought they could get away with it.  How many empires have fallen in history along these same circumstances – a leader and nation rise up to conquer “the world” and then in their arrogance and pride are brought to their knees. They forget no matter who they serve, it is the one and only living and true God who created the universe and has control of every outcome. Pride is a deadly sin and we’ve seen the consequences of it time and time again throughout history. 

Whenever we get prideful, we forget that we can do nothing in our own strength. We lose sight that the very breath in our lungs is not ours, but His. Pride leads us further into disobedience – we become our own god or authority. We believe we guide our own path and that is dangerous. Take a look at King Saul (1 Sam 15), who after being anointed by God for the role was partially obedient which led to his ultimate destruction. To be clear, if we are not being fully obedient to God’s Word, Will, and Ways, we are being disobedient. There is no middle ground. There is no grey. We are either obedient or disobedient. God is merciful and He is patient and He is kind. In some cases, He will give us time to grapple with what He has directed us to do, like He did with Gideon (Jud 6:33-40). In some, He pursues us in our disobedience, as He did with Jonah (Jonah 1-3). In others, He will destroy us immediately like with Uzzah (2 Sam 6:1-7). 

The fact is that we get to decide our ultimate outcome – eternity with God or not. We can choose God and His way or we can choose our own. If we make the mistake to choose our own way and make ourselves king and lord over our own lives, we are on the road to destruction and are basically asking God to take His hand off us. He will (Rom 1:18-32). We must never forget that God is not mocked, we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7). If we sow disobedience, we will reap consequence….Not because it’s what God wants for us, but because it is what we ourselves sought. DON’T DO IT!

God is loving (1 John 4:8) and He is faithful (Lam 3:22-23). He is a forgiving God, but He requires us to acknowledge our sin (1 John 1:9). We are not perfect and we are not good in and of ourselves. He is the one who makes us righteous and sets us apart. Don’t ever forget how much you owe to the Lord – breath, life, the ability to move, to think, to gain wealth. Every good and perfect gift comes from God (Jam 1:17). His way is better than anything we or anyone else can come up with. CHOOSE HIM!

Who are you judging?

It’s so easy to judge others and see where they fall short (Matt 7:1). Oftentimes, we judge others knowing nothing about them beyond superficial facts, if that. It’s much easier to see where someone else has issues than to face ourselves. I can usually look at someone else’s life and see where they have made mistakes or need to make better decisions. That is much easier than looking at my own issues. But that is what we are allowed to do – judge ourselves. God is gracious and kind and gives us a chance to hold ourselves accountable. 

In fact, scripture puts it like this – “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor 11:31-32). This passage calls for us to examine our own lives and reflect on our activities and attitudes to take appropriate action. Instead of condemning others for their sin, we need to reflect on our own, seeking God to show us what inside of us is unlike Him so we can repent and surrender our will to His (Gal 2:20).

This prevents us from getting too confident in ourselves. If we don’t look at ourselves and recognize our faults and need for a savior, we can become prideful and arrogant in our service to the Lord (Prov 16:18). It can lead us to replacing the Lord with our service to Him making it an idol. To honor Him and give Him the glory due His name we must be humble and self-aware (Prov 22:4). We must never forget that we are not perfect, Jesus is. We are not worthy, Jesus is. We are not righteous, Jesus is. He gave us His righteousness and took on our sin and paid the price for it (2 Cor 5:21). We must never forget that He paid the price instead of us. We owe Him everything. 

So, who are you judging? Yourself or others? Are you pleasing God where you are? If not, change it. No time like the present. Don’t put it off. Don’t put Him off.

You’re in the Church but are You The Church

It’s been a while since I last wrote an entry and I’m not sure if I just got busy or I stopped listening for a while, but I couldn’t not write this one. Lately, with everything going on around the world, I’ve been sad and disappointed. Many religious leaders and people who claim to be followers of Jesus have acted like anything but Him. When Jesus was asked about the greatest of the commandments, He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Then he added, “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt 22:37-39)

When I read that in my bible, what it tells me is that loving those around me, my fellow man, is second only to loving God. Not power or money or prestige or anything else. Jesus also told His followers (The Church) that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). I find it very hard to believe that anyone loves God if he doesn’t love those he sees daily, whatever his or her sex or race or class. However, I regularly read about those who proclaim to love Jesus denigrating others whether migrants or minorities or any others – that is not Christ-like, in fact, it’s the opposite. That is not love. It divides and it tears down – the very opposite of what Jesus and His disciples or apostles taught. Paul taught us in Phil 2:3 to not “...be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.”

Anyone can say anything. They can claim to be something they are not. But the proof is in the pudding. Our actions and behaviors do not lie. If we don’t look and act like Jesus, we are likely not of Jesus. The scripture says a tree is known by its fruit (Matt 12:33). In our case, a Christ-follower is known by the fruit of the spirit and if those fruit are not present, then it’s appropriate to question what spirit is present. The fruit of The Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). If someone is exhibiting something different, that is evidence the Holy Spirit is not present because I’ve known Him a long time and He does not sit idly by while we sin or exhibit behavior opposing Christ. He guides and directs us and chastises us when we step off course. 

One of the biggest tragedies is that many people believe if they attend church and do what they consider good that makes them right with God. That couldn’t be further from the truth. First, we are not good. Period. Second, there is nothing we can do in ourselves that makes us right with God. It is only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus and what He accomplished that we can be saved (Eph 2:8-9). There is no way for us to buy our way in or work hard enough to gain a place in God’s family/His Church. It is a free gift of God to us. But, once we are saved, because we love God and revere Him as the Creator of the heavens and earth, the only Wise God, our Heavenly Father, we seek to please Him. That is when the work comes in. Not to save us, but because we are saved. We work, as we are called, out of obedience to fulfill His plan and purpose in the earth. 

So, the question for you is, are you The Church? Are you truly a follower of Christ? I’m not talking about what you claim to people. I’m talking about whether you actually have a relationship with Jesus for yourself and are taking on His characteristics because the Holy Spirit is on the inside of you. Does God know you? Or will He say when you are judged that He never knew you? How tragic would it be to live your life claiming Jesus and then end up in Hell for eternity because you were so busy trying to impress people and obtain things that you missed it. A few decades on this earth gaining stuff you can’t carry anywhere and don’t really need would be an awful consolation prize for an eternity of misery and torture, but that will be the reality for many. The great thing is that while you’re still breathing there is time. Don’t waste it. Choose Jesus. Be The Church. There is no better choice.

Do You Look Different?

This week has been a rather emotional one for me. I’ve been pretty self-reflective. We’re studying Exodus in family bible study and I’ve been reflecting on how the world looks today and our part in it – the lack of impact the church has on society. How we don’t look different from the world? Question for you – if the people you work with were asked if you are a follower of Christ, what would they say? That’s what I’ve been asking myself and I must admit, I find myself lacking in some areas. What about you? 

On Thursday, President Jimmy Carter was laid to rest after 100 years here with us. As I listened to the eulogies and his history, I was convicted. He spent his life taking care of others – our country, his family, some of the poorest people in the world – because of his love for Jesus and his faith in him. He held to his convictions and his faith in Jesus. He made decisions consistent with his faith and opposing what society would agree with. He had the courage to do God’s will and not that of public opinion to his career detriment. It was evident, he loved the LORD. He was a strong example of a follower of Christ. Much stronger than some pastors and ministers.

I was convicted and found myself lacking - I have work to do. I have been given so much and while I do give, I don’t give everything I can. I can be extremely selfish with my time and talents and for what? Laziness. My own comfort. Busyness. There are probably a dozen other excuses that I have for not giving my all. None of them important enough to disobey God’s purpose and plan for me. I am to be set apart (Col 3:12-17). I am to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind (Rom 12:2). I should look different from the world around me (1 John 2:15-17). People should know without a shadow of doubt that I am different from the world. 

We are to be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-16). If we really love the LORD, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). When we keep His commandments, we keep them all the time…. not just when it’s convenient or comfortable. Yes, we mess up and sin, but our desire should be to please God (2 Cor 5:9-11). The only way to do so is through our faith in Him (Heb 11:6). If we have true faith in Him, we will trust Him and do what He says, knowing that it will be better than anything we can come up with on our own. So, do you look different from the world around you? Or, have you compromised to fit in or enjoy personal desires? The closer you get to God, the closer He will be to you (James 4:8). Remember His love for you! Remember how doing it on your own doesn’t work well! Seek Him and obey Him. Love Him and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). There is blessing in surrender to Him. Be different! 

His Mercies are New Every Morning

Every day is a new opportunity to reflect on the goodness of God. Today, I’ve been in my first real blizzard. I didn’t really know what that would be like. Last year, we had a large snowstorm but this has been different. It has been snowing since last night and I have snow drifts in my backyard that are 2-3 feet high. I wasn’t expecting this and I’m definitely not used to the winter weather here in Kansas City. I wanted different circumstances since I dislike the cold and can take snow or leave it.

I also began reading Lamentations at the beginning of the year. I don’t know about you, but the prophet Jeremiah, has been wearing me out. His experience during the siege of Jerusalem had to be one of the most horrific ones ever. The way he describes the consequences of Israel’s sin was beyond anything I could even imagine. I wasn’t emotionally prepared for its weightiness. Then I got to Lamentations 3.

It begins with distress over what can only be described as feelings of abandonment and punishment (Lam 3:1-20), but then something amazing happens. Jeremiah remembers there is hope (Lam 3:21-23) no matter how bad his situation is. Even though people are dying of hunger and suffering at the hands of their oppressors, He remembers God’s faithfulness never ends. His mercies are new every morning. That gives me a reassurance that I’m not sure I realized I needed.

Great is the LORD’s faithfulness! He is good to those who depend on Him and search for Him. Even when we are in awful situations that are painful and challenging, it is good to wait quietly on the salvation from the LORD. When we recognize the LORD is our portion and inheritance, we will lean more into Him for everything and not try to depending on ourselves – we can do nothing without Him (Lam 3:24-26). We can stand on the fact that even when we sin and are chastised, He will not abandon us (Lam 3:31). The LORD is faithful and our repentance brings us back into right fellowship with Him (2 Cor 7:10; Ps 32:5).

Let us never forget that the LORD’s mercies are new every morning. Let us be quick to obey and when we mess up, let us be quick to repent. Be blessed!