Do people we associate with consider us to be arrogant or conceited men and women of faith? By this I mean, do we present ourselves in faith as being stuffy, academically aloof, or “better than you” Christians? If we are like this or are more interested in appearing righteous than actually being righteous, then it is time that we wake up. Jesus was born a humble carpenter’s son and lived a common life despite being anything but common.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to redeem us because He felt sympathetic love for us, He came at the Father’s request to do a job, and that job was to defeat sin, and glorify God Himself. His task was to mend the rift between God, and man whom He had created. To accomplish this, He had to do so by the only way possible... by yielding His life as He suffered and sacrificed Himself in death for us.
Do you see God the Father as a gentle old grey-haired man who forgives you regardless of what you do and without regard to, or memory of, who and what you are? Well, that isn’t so. Without the horrific and yet wonderful sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ we would be lost, because God’s very nature would prohibit Him from overlooking our sins. Our forgiveness is a supernatural spiritual event that is without precedent, and which cleanses the once permanent stain of sin.
Have you ever received manna from heaven? Maybe you haven’t been the recipient of this heavenly food specifically, but perhaps some form of spiritual or supernatural rescue or provision has been provided for you? How about a call from God telling you to be the answer to someone else’s need or prayer? When God uses us in this way we suddenly realize the immensity of the blessing that comes from giving, and our being in His service.
What sins do we have in our lives that have enslaved us? Do we have an overriding desire for something that drives us to commit sin, or a need in our life that makes us complicit or vulnerable to sinful things? Either way, we have been enslaved, and our sin will rule us until we can find emancipation from it. Sexual predators are in the news again right now... let’s take a look.
Do we search for God with all our heart, and in so doing are we seeking Him by His terms, or is our motivation our own self-gratification? As we pray and call His name are we continuously obeying His beckoning voice “come”, or are we calling Him to where we are, and asking Him for favors on our own terms?
When we look into the mirror do we consider ourselves to be great men or women of God? Do we have stripes on our sleeves for all to see, as we live the years of our faith for everyone to marvel at? Is our goal for each day to show those around us how mightily we serve God, or the pious nature of our calling? If so, then we had better stop the pompous religiosity and seek out the humility of Christ... we need to be humble like Jesus and give the honor and glory to God. We need to stop boasting about the notoriety of our own righteousness and works and start boasting in God alone.
When God is working in another’s life do we get in His way? Are we one of those people that is referred to as a “fixer”, but who lets Himself get out of control on a regular basis? Do we find that in our attempt to repair a situation we come between God and the miracle He is about to perform? Do we let our own will and intellect overreach its bounds? Well, if so, then get ready to be corrected... and to quite possibly hurt the very soul we are intending to help.
If you were to look around right now would you see God in everything around you? Could you look at the items in the room, or the trees in your backyard and say “God, how magnificent you are!”, or would you struggle to find Him? Seeing God in every aspect of our life, and in every scene, thing, or occurrence that makes up our lives, requires spiritual training, and a circumcised heart. How sensitive is our spiritual radar?
If we live according to the commandments, are we owed righteousness and everlasting life? How can we be so bold as to feel this way after Jesus walked into the vile pit of worldly sin and human debasement, suffered for us there, took on our sin, died, and was raised again... all for us in our undeserving and fallen state. He loved us first; he chose us in love before the creation of the world and knew us while we were yet in our mother’s womb. So, how is it then that by simply being moral or working at following God’s commandments that we feel entitled to redemption and eternity?
Has Jesus changed our lives? Has He altered the very core of who we once were, or do we put Him on like a change of clothes each day to cover up the nakedness of the sin that still exists as we strive for righteousness? We often portray ourselves as being one way publicly, and then retreat into a private world that is quite different... which of these is who we actually are? Are there things we hide beneath a shiny veneer of paper thin faith as we live out both our spiritual and physical lives?
When God speaks do we answer Him straightway? When He says “Come” do we immediately go to Him? When Jesus says “Go do this...” are we willing to drop whatever we are presently doing and go? By our very nature we are procrastinators, some of us more than others, but all of us have some degree of this trait within us. When God reaches out to us He expects action and not excuses and asks for us to obey His will exactly as He has instructed us without delay. Are we able to do this?
Do you ever look back on your life of faith with regret? Do you look down and feel like a failure because you weren’t a Billy Graham, or made some great theological impact? This happens to pastors, missionaries, and church workers, quite often. How about those of us who are lay people, and everyday Christians? Do we think that we have let Jesus down because we haven’t contributed in some dramatic way to our church? Well stop right there! God uses the smallest acts of obedience and makes them great in the kingdom.
Do we have routine habits of faith? Are we made proficient in our faith by setting aside certain times each day to regularly read, pray, or just contemplate God, and Jesus? If not, and we are dependent on random thoughts to guide us and going to church once or twice a week to mature our faith, then we are missing out on a wonderful growing relationship with Jesus and the full power of God in our lives.
What bubbles up from within us during prayer? Do we ever begin to pray and then hear ourselves as if from some faraway place; speaking to God in a language of groans and utterances that we can’t translate into words, but feel perfectly conversant in within our hearts? Our spirit, and the Holy Spirit that resides within us are speaking to God in a dialect unknown to us but understood perfectly in Heaven.