Friday, July 27, 2012

God's Side

I heard something today that made me reflect on some things that have been going on in our culture lately.  Abraham Lincoln once said, "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."  WOW!  That shouldn't be such a revelation, but it is.  Instead of trying to argue that God is on our side, we should make every effort to reconcile ourselves and our lives, our way of thinking, to God and His Word.  There is one caveat to that realization, though...One would have to know what God's Word truly says by reading and studying it and applying it to their life, in order to know what God's side truly looks like.

There is a "WORLD" of difference between following Jesus and just assenting to Jesus and expecting Him to follow us.  In one view, we are more interested in pleasing the world and our personal desires than we are in pleasing God.  In the other view, we truly seek God and His truth, despite what others and the world have distorted as the new truth.  The two views are polar opposites.  The world's views can be deceiving and we can easily try to rationalize how God's Word does not apply to the world today or to our lives and views.  We pick sides, based on our own perspective and views.  We have become desensitized to God's views and over-sensitive to a world that is completely in left field. 

What to do?  It's a question, or series of questions, that every true believer of Jesus Christ has to ask of themselves.  Am I going to follow the world's ways or am I going to follow the ways of Jesus?  Am I going to keep my mouth shut or am I going to boldly stand up for truth against a culture that denies it?  Am I going to love those that hate me and what I believe because that is what Jesus would do?  Am I going to represent my Lord well, while being a light for His truth, in a dark world?  All of these questions come at me with great conviction.  Where is my answer?  The answer to any question we have is found in the presence of  our Lord.  We can go ahead of Him and act on our own or say how we feel about a particular situation, but we should always consult with God and ask Him how to handle the situation in love, with grace and truth.

I believe the bible to be the inerrant Word of God.  I don't take that lightly.  Yet, in that, I know that God commands us to love others, despite their view of His truth.  How to do that appropriately is always my quandary.  We must always love the person before the issue.  Yet we must love them enough that they see the real Jesus in our lives.  When people see the Jesus that leads our lives in Spirt and in truth and with a grace that loves well, it draws them to our Jesus.  Our lives should attract them to want the peace and joy in the Lord that we display.  Let's not get that wrong, folks.  We have to love on people enough that they want to know what, or WHO, drives us.  When that kind of relationship grows, it opens the door for questions about a God who loves us so much that He does not want to leave us where we are.  He does not want us to follow the ways of the world.  God loves us so much that He does not want us to be deceived.  He wants us to reconcile what we may or may not believe to His truth.  But, we have to truly want that ourselves before we will ever believe it.

It's "Come to Jesus" time when we truly let His Word divide truth and lies.  Our feelings and views are based on our perceptions of things.  When we truly give God and His Holy Spirit the wheel in the thoughts that drive our minds and actions, we are at a crossroads and we have to decide, "Are we going to continue to drive this vehicle or are we going to turn it over to Jesus?"  When we honestly turn control over to Jesus, we are set on a new path....His BEST path for our lives.  There is no auto-pilot in this kind of journey.  It is a purposeful decision to give God control and let Him take the wheel that guides us on our journey.  The truth is, we can end up on the other side of the "World".  We can end up in the best place we could possibly be.  We could actually end up on God's side.

2 comments:

Patty Sumner said...

How to live in a world where others seem to see Jesus as unnecessary or not useful yet live in such a way that they want what we have....Not so easy! It seems every day we hear stories of how Christians are being attacked for their beliefs. How difficult it can be to love the unloveable. This es exactly what we have to do. Stand firm but with Love...see others as Jesus sees them. Scott goes every day into a prison where there are so many different beliefs and religions...He has to live in such a way as a believer that others want what he has.. He is such a wonderful man of God. He has led many muslims, wickens, etc to the Lord. Simply by his walk..... I want to be strong in the Word and allow the Word to mold my life.... Not always easy but a must. To live a Bible based Worldview in a world that has as strong "worldly" world view
Thanks Carolyn!
Blessings!

Carolynn said...

Thanks Patty! I completely agree with you. We have to "dress" our strong convictions in love. Not a worldly love, but a kind of love we can only know through a relationship with Jesus. I cannot do it in my limited human perspective. I have to let God teach me how to love while never compromising His truth. It's a difficult path, but so possible with God's leading. You and Scott are great examples of God's great love:-)