Is it possible to get so caught up in the world that you miss doing Gods work? While at the prayer conference in Texas last October, Pastor Corey Jones made a statement that delayed obedience is disobedience. I like that. It speaks to the issue that being a follower of Christ is a black or white issue. It's not gray. Simply believing in God doesn't make you a follower of Christ. Some will say, "I believe in God." That's great! Are you following Christ? If not, read James Chapter 2, verse 19. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."
Black and white. Delayed obedience is disobedience. If you're not with Him, you're against Him. There are so many ways to say it. I recently read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis and Lord Foulgrin's Letters by Randy Alcorn. They are both fictional accounts of letters written by "higher up" demons to their subordinates. The message is the same. The demons don't fight to win souls for Satan. They fight to keep souls from God. It's not a matter of choosing to follow Christ or choosing to follow Satan. It's a matter of choosing to follow Christ or choosing to not follow Christ. Anything else, mere belief in God, Agnosticism, Atheism, Buddhism, whatever...it's all the same. It's all not following Christ.
And for those of us that are parents or guardians, we have added responsibility. If we don't lead our children to Christ, the world WILL lead them away from Him. Black and white. If we think that we can just live our Christian lives and hope that our children will pick up enough along the way to make the right choice on their own, we are sorely mistaken. If we don't take specific and purposeful steps to lead our children to Christ, we will lose them to the world. We can't afford to sit idly by and hope for the best. We have to put the strength of our backs and the sweat of our brows into the salvation of our children.
Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL YOUR HEART." Again, it's black and white. Don't seek me a little bit, when you feel like it. Seek me with all your heart. With everything you have! But this leads me to another question. Is it also possible to get so busy doing God's work that you lose track of following Him?
Obviously the answer is yes. It's almost a rhetorical question to bring up the point that we can get so caught up in doing for the Lord that we lose sight of Him. We get so busy looking at the pretty trees that we miss the forest! But again, there are instructions and guidelines in His Word for this too. Hebrews Chapter 11 is all about faith in action. Verse 6 says "without faith it's impossible to please God" It doesn't say that without faith we only please Him occasionally. It says without faith it's IMPOSSIBLE. So we have to constantly look at our actions to see if they exist out of faith. Faith without works is dead. James 2:26. However, the opposite is just as true. Works without faith are just as dead.
There are lots of people that are busy for Christ without following Him. Its an easy trap to fall into. It could be leading a children's group, doing local missions work, perhaps even singing in the choir. The question is, "why"? Why are you leading the children? Why are you doing the mission work? Why are you in the choir? Is it for your glory or His? Or even worse, do you just see it as an obligation?
Tough questions. But tough questions are what take us deeper into understanding ourselves, repenting our sins and humbling ourselves. Quieting ourselves before Him and allowing Him to clean out these prideful and selfish ambitions are what readies our vessel for Him to fill it!
So what do we do? We have to make the time to quiet ourselves before the Lord, to pray purposefully. To spend time with Him.
Black and white. Delayed obedience is disobedience. If you're not with Him, you're against Him. There are so many ways to say it. I recently read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis and Lord Foulgrin's Letters by Randy Alcorn. They are both fictional accounts of letters written by "higher up" demons to their subordinates. The message is the same. The demons don't fight to win souls for Satan. They fight to keep souls from God. It's not a matter of choosing to follow Christ or choosing to follow Satan. It's a matter of choosing to follow Christ or choosing to not follow Christ. Anything else, mere belief in God, Agnosticism, Atheism, Buddhism, whatever...it's all the same. It's all not following Christ.
And for those of us that are parents or guardians, we have added responsibility. If we don't lead our children to Christ, the world WILL lead them away from Him. Black and white. If we think that we can just live our Christian lives and hope that our children will pick up enough along the way to make the right choice on their own, we are sorely mistaken. If we don't take specific and purposeful steps to lead our children to Christ, we will lose them to the world. We can't afford to sit idly by and hope for the best. We have to put the strength of our backs and the sweat of our brows into the salvation of our children.
Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL YOUR HEART." Again, it's black and white. Don't seek me a little bit, when you feel like it. Seek me with all your heart. With everything you have! But this leads me to another question. Is it also possible to get so busy doing God's work that you lose track of following Him?
Obviously the answer is yes. It's almost a rhetorical question to bring up the point that we can get so caught up in doing for the Lord that we lose sight of Him. We get so busy looking at the pretty trees that we miss the forest! But again, there are instructions and guidelines in His Word for this too. Hebrews Chapter 11 is all about faith in action. Verse 6 says "without faith it's impossible to please God" It doesn't say that without faith we only please Him occasionally. It says without faith it's IMPOSSIBLE. So we have to constantly look at our actions to see if they exist out of faith. Faith without works is dead. James 2:26. However, the opposite is just as true. Works without faith are just as dead.
There are lots of people that are busy for Christ without following Him. Its an easy trap to fall into. It could be leading a children's group, doing local missions work, perhaps even singing in the choir. The question is, "why"? Why are you leading the children? Why are you doing the mission work? Why are you in the choir? Is it for your glory or His? Or even worse, do you just see it as an obligation?
Tough questions. But tough questions are what take us deeper into understanding ourselves, repenting our sins and humbling ourselves. Quieting ourselves before Him and allowing Him to clean out these prideful and selfish ambitions are what readies our vessel for Him to fill it!
So what do we do? We have to make the time to quiet ourselves before the Lord, to pray purposefully. To spend time with Him.
Walking Tall Through Christ,
Kevin
Kevin
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