Christ-Following 101

God’s One Glaring Problem

God has one glaring problem; He thinks He is God! And of course, He is God, which even makes it worst because as usual He is right… again. In Exodus 20:3 God makes His intention crystal clear, ”You shall have no other gods before me.”

Christ-following, at is most basic level, is simply coming to grips with God truly being “God”, with Jesus truly being “Lord”, and with the Holy Spirit truly being the controlling influence of your life.

Even Jesus had to make a choice to surrender to God’s will and purpose for His life. In Philippians 2:5-6 the Bible says that “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped……” What a phrase!!! Even though Jesus was in His very nature “God”, “He did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped”.

Yet as people, who in our very nature are a long, long way from being God, we somehow believe that it is our right and duty to “consider equality with God as something to be grasped”. How? What would you call knowingly, willful disobedience for example? Each time God asks something of us and we choose to not surrender to His will and purpose are we not in fact making our opinion, and our will equal to His?

As people, we have learned to blame such disobedient behavior on things such as fear, our comfort zone, procrastination, just being human, we will never be perfect after all, etc. But the reality is that we really do not want anyone telling us what to do, including God.

Folks, this deal is pretty simple. God is “God”, and we are not. His ways are not our ways, His deeds are not our deeds, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is God!!! He is so far beyond our imagination that we will never truly grasp His majesty and glory. And after all, would you even want a God that you could dissect and fully grasp? In some ways God has made Himself fully known and understandable, yet in other ways God is an amazing mystery.

The Bible says in Ephesians 1:3-11 & 2:8-10 that God knew you and chose you before the world was created, that He created you then prepared in advance a list of good works for you to accomplish in your lifetime, and that as time reaches fulfillment He will make the mystery of His will known to you.

Our job? Love God with ALL of our heart and with ALL of our soul, and with ALL of our mind. Seek first God and will take care of the details and make the mystery of His will known to you at the proper time. Embrace Him as God.

Surrender to Him and His purposes for you. Surrender your right to debate with Him or to see equality with His as something to be grasped. Surrender your plans and your dreams for the future to Him.

Choose, as an act of your will, to have no other gods before Him. And don’t forget to thank Him for the next breath you take because He is the one who gives it to you.

The Three Root System of Faith

Faith is a very critical step in our spiritual development process. Faith is biblically defined as “being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Scripture even pushes a little further a few verses later, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6). Faith, or the lack of it, is serious business to God.

Faith is also a gift of the Holy Spirit (Rom 12:6-8, 1 Cor 12:7-11, Phil 2:13) that fuelsthe immeasurably more power of God (Eph 3:20). Faith releases the power of God, just as the absence of faith forfeits the power of God. Let me repeat myself, “Faith, or the lack of it, is serious business with God”.

Faith grows out of three basic root systems. First, there are the “figurers”; they say, “I think”. Their faith tends to be based in, and limited by logic, experiences, and opinions, which sounds right, until you realize that God loves to do the impossible and the unlikely, so He alone gets the glory.

Since our ways and thoughts are not the same as God’s, people in the thinkers group, tend to be misled by doubt and fearful thinking. The problem with basing your faith on your thinking is that your thinking is flawed.

Second, there are the “feelers”; they say, “I feel”. Their faith tends to be based in, and limited by their own emotional roller coaster. If they feel positive, then all is right with the world, if they feel down, then all is wrong with the world.

Faith should not be based on our emotions. Emotions waver, but biblical faith is stable, steady, and unwavering. People who tend to base their faith on their feelings tend to be misled by those very same fickle emotions.

Then there are the “believers”; they say, “I believe God”. Believing God is not based on logic, or emotions. It is not based on our opinions, or our changing feelings. Faith that is rooted in believing God is based on the unchanging, unwavering, nature and character of God.

Our thinking will deceive us. Our emotions will deceive us. But faith that is rooted in the nature and character of God is stable and dependable. Hebrews 10:23 says it this way, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.”

Faith is God’s invitation to partner with Him. It is a tremendous gift (1 Cor 12:9). What we believe is proven not by what we say, but more so, by what we do. Biblical faith is active and powerful. Active faith releases the power of God, just as the absence of faith forfeits the power of God. Think that last sentence through for a few minutes today, there is tremendous truth contained in those eighteen words.

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