Don’t Make God Do It!
Philippians 2:5-8 (Amplified Bible)
5Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] 6Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, 7But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. 8And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
Matthew 6:24 (Amplified Bible)
24No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in).
I am constantly telling my young adults, “I should not have to tell you to do things to help out around the house, or things that you have been taught that are right, by now they should be within you to do, because you are old enough to know what is expected of you.” When we raise our children a certain way, we have a right to have certain expectations of what they will and will not do without someone having to force their hand, stand over them or constantly guide them onto the right path.
Likewise God has the right to expect that we will do what is right when we say we know Him. Why is it that when we are trained on a job or in a position, once we have been there for a while the boss normally does not have to ask us to conform. We know the drill and we do what is expected of us? It is because we are looking at the fact that our lack of productivity, progression and adaptation will affect our performance appraisal, our pay checks and our ability to progress as a whole. Why is it that we do not think the same way, when it comes to the things God expects from us? We think that if we talk the talk and know the lingo that we can slide in under the wire and no one will see us for who we really are, and what we have not let go of. We think if we are at church whenever the church doors are open that it will be hard for people to see that our loyalties are really divided and we not only have two masters, but we are effecting others as well. We are so proud of our ability to say we know about God and we are acquainted with Him, we forget that we need to know Him for ourselves and that we need to not just know of Him, but be in an intimate and committed relationship with Him. Not one that says I will seek you when I can’t handle things in my life, or when I am in deep trouble and I am fading fast or when I am close to losing everything. Why have we not figured out that all we have belongs to Him and we need to consult Him as to what to do with it and that our very lives are His to do with as He pleases?
Most of us rely on free will, God’s mercies and His grace to hide us or save us, not remembering that grace has an end. We also forget that eventually EVERY knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You see we can give it to Him now freely or He can get it later, when there is no other choice. There are some of us that know the truth and refuse to adhere to it, so in order to get our attention many of us will end up in the belly of the whale (whether sick, alone, broke, busted and disgusted, just down right miserable), God will get our attention to let us know who has the power and who is really running things. For others still we will be exposed for who we really are and our real lives will read like a headline on the front page of a national newspaper. So the choice becomes, will we follow the example God sent for us through the person of Jesus Christ? Will we submit ourselves wholly to God, or will we have to go through for God to finally get our attention? The choice is ours, we can do it the easy way and submit, or we can stay hard...but remember many sleep and are sick among us because of it and they are not enjoying the fullness of what their lives could be if they would do it God’s way on their own!
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