11/02/2017
Do you go about rationalizing your own actions while claiming to be a servant of God and follower of Jesus? Do you use the good nature of God as an excuse for disobedience? If so, then you need to re-evaluate your faith. God may not be forcing you to do His will, but that doesn’t diminish it in the least.
“"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
John 14:15 ESV
I have known families that ran like clockwork, and others that seemed to stay in a state of total chaos. Both families were led by parents that were followers of Jesus, and who were faithful people of God. So what was it that caused one family to succeed and the other to fail? One of the primary reasons that I could see was something that God never does... they were constantly bending rules. The children in the failing family knew that no matter what they did the parents would find a way to accept it, ignore it, or justify it. The result was that there were no rules to guide the children. If you were to ask these parents about this they would argue that they loved their kids and were raising them based on the love model of Christ.
Using the scripture we began with and not placing it in the context of the Bible as a whole you might draw that conclusion, but taken out of context and inferring that this means that Jesus accepts disobedience because He loves you is an incorrect inference.
We have choices to make; we can obey or we can disobey. We can obey out of love, we can obey out of fear, we can obey to gain something, or we can even obey blindly while knowing we are wrong. All of these are the basis for our choice, but still the fact remains... there is a right choice and a wrong choice. There is no road of faith between these two. We serve a black or white God who accepts no Grey.
When we are grey we are this way because we interjected our own will, and have strayed from God’s. If that suddenly became alright to do then we would become confused between right and wrong, and chaos would be the result. Our family of souls ceases to function as it should.
“"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26 ESV
Perhaps we come to this “grey is ok” way of thinking because God allows us to choose. Scripture is full of “ifs”, but they are pointing out choices... not a variance in God’s will.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”
Matthew 16:24-27 ESV
This is another “if” that is placed before us. Jesus offers a choice... you can deny yourself and follow me, or go your own way, but the outcome of that choice is firm. You can give Him your life and live, or keep it yourself and die. Then He warns us that judgement is coming.
So how are we running our lives? How are we running our families? But, most of all, how are we conducting our life of faith? Do we recognize commandments, rules, and laws, or do we approach them with a Wild West type of mentality in which anything goes, and our will comes before God’s. Do we do this in a controlled fashion in which our obedience is more white than black so that we can justify it, and feel good, or is it a darker grey... perhaps even black entirely?
God runs His family like we should run ours... there is no argument in this. Where the rub comes in is when we see a wrong choice go without an immediate punishment or consequence. Hugh Hefner lived a life of debauchery, and hedonism, yet he lived in a mansion and had a private jet. There didn’t appear to be a consequence to this life of sin, but he died, and faces judgement for his actions. God’s will, commandments, and law, didn’t change to accommodate him. Our faith tells us this is true, and it does so because that’s what God’s Word says.
We are judged according to our belief:
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
John 3:18 ESV
We are judged according to our words:
“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,”
Matthew 12:36 ESV
And we are judged according to our actions:
“to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”
Romans 2:7-8 ESV
Never doubt that we will be judged; so make your decisions wisely and faithfully when you come upon an “If” in your life of faith. There is no chaos in God’s will, and the gate remains narrow regardless of how much we might want to think it is wide. We should do with God’s Word as we want our children to do with ours... obey it. If we do that then there is order and not chaos, light and not dark, life and not death.
Grey is not a shade of white, but a shade of black.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the firm boundaries that you set for us as we follow your will. I thank you for the order in all that you do, and ask of us. Your steady course allows me to see my destination Father, and keeps me moving ever closer to you. I am not confused or confounded by indecision, but hold to your unwavering truth. I rest in your Word, and find peace in your judgement because I never fear that my next step might slip because I couldn’t understand your desire for me, or what was right or wrong. Help me Father to raise my children, and oversee my family in like fashion. Even as I teach my sons and daughters by placing “ifs” before them, let them be assured and confident in the commandments and rules I have set for them. Let the consequences give them dependable boundaries that keep them from chaos, and sin. Help me to guide my family as steadily as you guide me. Give me insight into you as I lead my own house, and correct me where I falter. I praise you Holy Father for your steadfast love, and for the command you have over my life each day. I rejoice in the comfort you provide, and the peace which flows from your consistent nature. Make me pure in my faith Father, and let there be no grey found in me.
Rich Forbes