How do we know what God expects from us and what he wants us to do? Simply put, you should pray. You should also read the Bible. It is God’s plan for eternity. In it, you are included. Everyone is.
It’s always easy to find an excuse for not reading the Bible on any given day. I know that I have a number of excuses at the ready. It’s busy, I’m tired, I’ve already read enough today.
I forget that reading the Bible is like a breath of Life to the soul. Just like the unconscious action of breathing in and breathing out, so should the effort of reading the Bible be for the believer.
The thing is, we get caught up in the troubles of the day and try to sort things out on our own. If we took the time each day to read God’s word to us, we would find the answers that we seek. We’d find that sorting things on our own is hard work (and really rarely right) whereas having God provide the answer is easy and is always, always, always right.
My husband and I are reading the Bible in a year. We’ve found a plan that allows for five days of reading and adjusts to any week you wish to start. It also adjusts for those times when you fall behind. Instead of staring at a date that has passed (which shines like a huge failure sign), each week is consecutively numbered. That way, when we fall behind, it just adds at week on at the end. We may not finish in 365 days but finish it, we will.
We decided to use the Amplified Study Bible this year. That is a huge endeavor as some days there is more to the study portion than there is to the reading portion (though the Amplified is quite verbose compared to other translations.) We’ve found that we are getting more from this reading than we have previously. So, even though it takes longer, I recommend it if you can find the time.
In addition to reading the Bible, prayer is important. I start each day speaking with God and we end it together in joint prayer. Before I start writing, I always give myself to God. I ask that he use my past, my future, my words and my hands to bring glory to his name. Then I thank him for what he will do with me and through me and thank him for sending his son. I ask that the name of Jesus be lifted up and high and that he uses my words to draw others to Jesus.
You see, in the end, when Jesus left us to return to the Father, he left Christ followers with two tasks. One was to spread the good news of his sacrifice and resurrection and the other was to love one another.
If you are looking for what God wants you to do, measure it against these two tasks. If what you think you should be doing will accomplish one and/or the other, it is very possible that it is exactly what you should be doing. If it doesn’t do either, go back to God and ask that he remove you and your thoughts from the equation and that he set you on the path you need to follow.
Lately, I’ve seen more and more Christians spending time arguing points with other Christians. They seem to spend more time critiquing the nuts and bolts of what others teach than in reaching out to and teaching the non-Christian world of the love of Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt that false doctrine needs to be routed out. If that is happening in your own church, you should take your concerns to your elders to have them deal with it. If it involves the elders, then get them replaced. If the needed changes don’t happen, flee that church and find one that is preaching sound doctrine.
If it involves another church and not your own, let the members of that church deal with the issue. Stand aside and let God do his work. Just like in the Old Testament days, God can rain judgement down on those who are perverting his Word. He doesn’t need us to spent our time arguing about it.
It may be that you see yourself as a latter day Paul, preaching to and teaching the churches. That’s fine if you also started those churches as Paul did. He was their spiritual leader and it was his job to make sure that correct doctrine was being taught. If you didn’t start and/or attend a particular church, then you are not personally responsible for correcting it.
The church is the Bride of Jesus Christ. Think twice about statements that you make regarding his Bride. Just as an earthly husband would not take kindly to derogatory or inflammatory comments about his wife, Jesus will also protect his Bride from these types of attacks.
But when it comes down to arguing with other Christians, most of the points that are argued are debatable and are of little interest to the non-believing world. Except for one thing. When non-Christians see Christians argue for hours, days, weeks and even years, there is little of interest there to draw them closer. They are more likely to laugh among themselves at how disjointed Christians are and how little of the “love” of Christ really shows through. They will focus on the disunity and see little reason to want to join in.
We need to stop this. We need to stop taking one another apart. We need to focus on what Jesus asked us to do and stop finding busy work on our own.
If you are preaching Christ crucified to an unbelieving world, you are good. If you are preaching to the choir, you need to stop, back up and step back to when you first believed. Little points didn’t matter back then. What mattered was that God, as Jesus the Son, stepped into our world to save us. He lived here and died for you to be saved. Remember the joy of your salvation. When you do, know that there are so many others who need to hear of and experience the saving power of Jesus Christ.
The small points of debating Christianity don’t really matter. There is no way we can definitively answer these points because, frankly, we are not God. We don’t have his mind or his view of eternity. All we have is what we are and on our own, we are a mess. Perhaps, when we enter eternity, we can ask God for his answers. My guess is that we won’t care – just as we shouldn’t care right now.
Arguing among Christians is a tactic the enemy uses to divide us. He has lost and he knows it. All he can do is stop us from fulfilling our jobs. If he and his cohorts can keep us from spreading the news of salvation, he glories in each individual who dies without ever hearing of Jesus Christ.
Someday, I want to stand before the Father and hear him say, “good work, faithful servant”. That means more to me than winning points of argument twenty million times a day. Each day that passes, I feel time is even more short. We’ve been living in the last days for more than 2,000 years so, in a very real way, the end is coming ever closer.
Whether it is today, tomorrow, or thousands of years away, for me, the end can be today. I need to live my life as if each day is the last one I can put into service for my God. When I stand before him, I hope that my last day, week, month or year will stand the scrutiny of whether or not I was doing what Christ asked me to do.
For years, I didn’t pay any attention. It was when life and death confronted me and I chose life that I realized how unfruitfully I had been living. I was like the seeds thrown among the thorns. I let the troubles of life choke out any growth of my Christian life. God gave me a second chance to serve him and serve him, I will.
God has a job for you to do, my Christian sisters and brothers. The job is one that only you can fill. If you are not doing as he wants to spread the gospel of Christ and love to the world, you need to change your efforts. You need to look at what you are doing and make sure you are really serving God and not yourselves.
If you are doing nothing, then it is time to step up and step out. God wants you to do your part. What that is, I don’t know. Seek him in his Word and seek him in prayer. He is just and good to answer you, when you diligently seek him. He will always provide you with the right answer.
Matthew 7:7-8
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.