I received news today of something that most people would consider something of a let-down, perhaps even a serious item of depression. I considered it to be a glorious thing. Something that I had strived for, in my own flesh, (and had achieved) was an area where I was finally surpassed by someone else.
I’m thrilled. It was a daily reminder of a time when I was not following the will of God in my life. The time that I spent, the hours upon hours and days upon days were not put to use in anyway that would show the light of Jesus to the world.
What it showed was me. It lifted me up and got others to either want to be for me or against me. But it was all about me.
Those days are now over and the last remaining reminder of that time is now behind me. I had, well over a year ago, asked God to forgive me, to put me on his path, and to put me to work on things that he wanted me to do.
It’s interesting how we can strive for something and even achieve it. If it is of the flesh, it all falls short and leaves us desiring something more, something different, something that will fill the yearnings of our hearts.
Nothing in or of this world will ever do so. The richest people in the world (who are not Christ-followers) are ever-striving to attain more wealth and thus, in their minds, happiness at last. They venture into areas that are different from the places where they have made their billions.
My guess is that they are still looking for something to satisfy their souls. A number of them are looking towards the heavens in an attempt to reach high above this life and this planet. Something in them knows that they will never be satisfied with anything in this world.
Their answer is to use their own minds and hands (and those of their workers) to reach up and try to capture and control heaven. This is no different from when in ancient times, King Nimrod decided to build the Tower of Babel. According to the Bible, all of the people of the world were in his kingdom. They were his hands and feet in this endeavor. They were trying to reach heaven and become their own God.
God saw this and decided that when people could congregate and could communicate with one language, that they would turn their thoughts and minds towards evil purposes and be able to achieve their vile plans. To stop this, because the time was not yet come for man to reach this pinnacle of evil, God separated the people and gave them different languages so that only a few others could understand them.
The people were scattered over the face of the earth, each by their then-common language. Until recently, there were barriers of language and distance that kept man from gathering again as they did in those ancient days.
However, today, we have fast methods of physical travel and, more importantly, we can communicate with one another in split seconds over the Internet. The barriers of language are behind us as most people can speak English. For those who cannot, there are almost instantaneous translation programs available at the click of a button.
So, here we are once again. People are congregating and coming up with evil. They are finding ways to destroy one another. Not only with weapons but also by giving leeway to do things that, at most times in the past, were considered evil.
We are killing babies before they are born. We are considering allowing mothers to put their children to death after they are born. We are drugging our children. We are telling them that they can choose their own sex. We lie and we cheat. We do all sorts of things that we justify as acceptable when, in our hearts, we know that none of it is acceptable to God.
So, many of us, rather than change our ways, simply deny that God exists. We can deny all we want but that does not change reality. God is the creator of the universe. He was before and is throughout eternity. He is the great I AM. Nothing was made that he did not make.
He even created Lucifer, who was so beautiful his name meant morning star. Lucifer was the highest ranking angel who rebelled against God and tried to become God himself. He led a full third of the angels of heaven in this battle. God won, of course, and sentenced Lucifer, or as we now refer to him as Satan, to eternity in Hell.
God then created the world and mankind to show Lucifer that beings that were created lower than angels, when given free will, would eventually turn back to God, repent of their evil ways and be able to spend eternity with God.
That is where we stand today. Jesus provided the sacrifice that mankind could never provide on their own which could reconcile us with God. With our free will, we choose sin. With Jesus, we were given a way to repent, have our sins paid for by a sinless man (who was also God at the same time), and to accept him as our savior and King.
We also learn to try to live the life that God has called us to live. We make mistakes from time to time (who am I kidding? We make mistakes all the time.) We can repent and ask God to help us find his path and his way once again.
As I started this article today, I talked about one of the ways in which I strayed away from God’s will in my life. I have certainly long repented of it and God has forgiven me as he promised he would do.
Recently, I have been praying daily for him to move me away from the spot that I had worked so hard to be placed in. When my prayers were answered today, it was a wonderful feeling and I am ever grateful that God will answer even such a seemingly silly request from one of his children.
If you are straying from the path that God has chosen for you, repent and ask him to set your way straight once again. If you are a Christ-follower and have not yet found the path that God has for you, ask him to show you what he wants you to do which is pleasing in his eyes rather than in your own.
If you have not yet accepted Jesus as your savior, you are probably still searching for something to fill your soul and provide the sense of fulfillment that we are all born looking for. Look to God and look to Jesus. Ask him to reveal himself to you. If you ask with sincere desire, he will absolutely answer your prayer. It is up to you. Accept Jesus and find the answer that will fill the deep desires of your heart.
If you do not accept Jesus, you will continue to search for something or someone to satisfy you until you die. Nothing in this world, or even in the heavens, that we physically reach out to grab will be able to fill your soul or bring to life your spirit which died when man first sinned in the Garden of Eden.
Isaiah 14:12-15
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.