It's Not How We Rehearse, But How We Live That Counts
By Patrick Roberts
God, in His wisdom, requires a soul-deep quality of character
from us rather than anything we can manufacture on our own. This
is reflected in His simple command for us, which is to work
diligently with whatever grace He sees fit to give us. As we
work with the grace He allots us right now, we will demonstrate
our belief that He knows what He is doing. This is authentic,
God-honoring faith.
However our fleshly minds tend to wander. In our foolishness, we
scorn the grace God gives us by envying the grace He gives
others. Our shortsightedness fails to perceive God distributing
His gifts purposefully, according to His greater, heavenly
goals.
Therefore the man who schemes to obtain an alternate amount of
grace is offensive to God. This man's thinking is overrun with
sinful rottenness; the fruit of his actions will be only greater
discontentment and frustration. This is the folly of churchgoers
who desire both Godly freedom and worldly riches at the same
time.
Tragically, the majority of American Christendom strives against
the Lord and tortures themselves by trying to adapt His Spirit
to their own worldly, versions of faith. Churchgoers think
they're pretty clever for living a way that looks the part while
their hearts are filled with every kind of bitterness and
putrefaction. Many who sit in their usual pews and listen
faithfully to the weekly sermon are willfully misguided so they
can ignore God as long as they want.
Deceived people suppose they can call the shots for their faith,
but every deceived person is only an underling of the head
master of deception himself. Deception in general is designed by
the father of lies to destroy people all the while giving them
the illusion of control. But trusting anything or anyone besides
Christ amounts to eternal futility as well as boldfaced
rebellion against our Maker.
Misguided people suppose that they can occupy themselves with
more than one, life-enveloping object at once. Satan is quite
content to divide people's hearts into two or three parts (or
into something they suppose is a careful balance between God and
other things). The opponent is delighted to divide people any
way they desire. He is content with this because he knows, and
Christ confirms it, that a soul cannot be balanced between God
and something else, but only 100% enslaved to God or else 100%
enslaved to the father of lies. Distracted, divided men will not
help to bring the kingdom of God to earth, but rather they will
only contribute their frustrations to an already frustrated
world.
Religion in particular distracts and divides men to the point
that they forget altogether what Spirit-led, God-pleasing
obedience might even look like. Mind-numbing, religious activity
keeps churchgoers from noticing the disturbing state of their
rebellious hearts. The subtlety here is that people's success in
religion leads them to suppose they are successful from God's
point of view.
But to the Lord, who is Spirit and Truth, outward signs are not
of primary importance. In fact, He so jealously desires the
undivided souls of His chosen people that He will kill their
bodies to save their souls. He won't hesitate to do away with
what was dying anyway in order to secure that which is undying.
This sounds harsh to the shallow, distraction-loving masses but,
nevertheless, God is too smart to mix up His eternal, heavenly
priorities with the fleeting priorities of men.
This leads us to the fact that God cares less about tasks in
themselves and more about the state of our hearts as we strive
toward obedience. Of course, we should value right action, but
God desires a far more fundamental prerequisite, which is that
our hearts, souls and motivations for living should be upright
before His omniscient perception. This is especially obvious in
regards to Christ's church, whose calling amounts to much more
than finishing a list of chores. It is the extent to which we
belong to Him, from the inside-out, that really matters.
And Godly obedience amounts to much more than some mysterious,
evasive guessing game. It is following the powerful,
unmistakable lead of God's Spirit among us.
Fellowship amongst believers is a good example of the "how it's
done" coming before the "what is done." Though fellowship
doesn't accomplish any measurable task, yet it is, in itself, a
vital aspect of God's kingdom. Obedient action within Christ's
church depends more on how we relate to each other than how high
and wide we stack our religious bricks or how many people we've
successfully assembled into one of our buildings.
If God leads us into working together as a spiritual family to
build some physical structure, then the flawlessness of our
finished, physical product is not our first priority (though we
should strive for excellence in everything we do). But God, in
His wisdom, cares more about the state of my heart as I hand the
hammer over to my workmate than He cares about how well any nail
is secured into a wooden board. He cares about how I ask for
that bucket of paint, even despite my physical fatigue. The
ultimate purpose for this is to lead us into trusting Christ
first. Then it will be obvious to the world that it is He who
works out every meaningful aspect of our lives.
Therefore, when in doubt, let's determine nothing more than to
love God, our spiritual family and whoever is our neighbor so
that there will be more than concrete and wood that holds up our
construction.
Following Christ is necessarily humbling to the man who takes
his life into his own hands. All-abandoning trust in God is, in
fact, offensive to the natural, willful man.
A churchgoing man who, in reality, is distant from God might say
glibly, "Oh yes, God could easily do anything He liked, even
without my help..." and then go on to deny this by never
consulting the Lord before he goes about his daily business. The
foolishness of sinful hypocrisy is to acknowledge Christ and yet
hold Him at arm's length, choosing instead to plod along
fruitlessly.
Therefore it remains for spiritually infantile manly-men, or
anyone else who wants to be spiritually potty-trained, to humble
themselves and seek out Christ with childlike sincerity. This
includes well-seasoned churchgoers, no matter how sure they are
of themselves and their right answers. It is appropriate for
such people as these, who are still dribbling, spiritual
toddlers, to weep and moan in light of their desperate need for
God's mercy.
How frustrating God's wisdom must be to the working man who
prides himself in the sweat of his brow! Tragically, this is the
majority of men, both inside and outside of church walls.
Fleshly men work today in order to earn for themselves the right
to look backward and say, "Look at what I've done!" Then they
bolster themselves, assuming they will live another day, saying,
"Look at what I'm going to do!" But this clashes with Christ's
command for us, which is: Trust God alone and be content
whatever blessing He sees fit to give us.
What man can boast in his future? No mortal can know whether
this day is his last. The future does not yet exist.
On a similar note, Christ did not respect the most impressive
religious construction of His day. He chided those who gazed at
men's buildings, because He knew the day was close at hand when
not one brick would be left sitting upon another. That which men
plant must whither and die quickly, Christ says, but that which
God plants can never be uprooted.
Look and marvel at this, O earthly man, that Christ commands His
followers to pray for only enough to survive today and yet at
the same time seek the fullness of God's glory on earth. He
injects heavenly significance into everyday things, which has
the side-effect of minimizing men and maximizing God in men.
This is a terrifying prospect for those who are in love with
their itineraries and plans. Do we dare ask God if our plans
might fit into His?
Obedience to Christ requires that we should continually ask
Christ, "How, Lord, might a people such as ourselves ever
contribute to Your heavenly plans? Lord, please bring us to
whatever place you want us to be. Put us on the same page as
You, forcibly if needs be!"
Patrick is an average Christ-seeker. His goal is to turn people
to Jesus Christ.
Find additional resources at
www.BooksByPatrick.com and www.KoGmedia.com
