Going to be teaching in a little while; a couple initial thoughts:
In my mind, there are two things of primary importance in life. First, knowing what it is that God wants, says, whatever. Second. Relating to God in the way that is proper (in my opinion, obedience). If I could describe my relation to the Christian religion, those two statements would sum it up.
Knowing what God wants is pretty important. And when it comes down to it, a lot of different people think a lot of different things. But I don't spend enough time thinking through what God says. I think God has pointed this out to me through some awesome Biblical teachers: Howard Hendricks, D.A. Carson, Mike Patton. When I listen to these men, I realize very quickly how little thought I have put into what God says about some issues that effect my life daily. Have you ever thought through your life and realized how few answers you have about what God wants?
And how often I have found myself believing lies about people, God, and myself. I feel I spend an above average time in scripture, washing my mind with truth. Yet intellectually, I still need more- because there are areas where my mind is believing unbiblical things. Within the past two years, as a direct result of not having a correct Biblical Theology, I've struggled with depression and insecurity. I've believed things that are not true. What you believe is true about anything affects reality. Always.
Growing in our knowledge of what God says and obedience of what he says goes hand in hand. One observation. It blows my mind as a Christian how quickly I make trades with God. I like studying scripture, teaching, being visionary, encouraging, and hanging out with friends. Those are all gifts given to me by God for his glory. I'm working on this, but honestly, here's where I am right now. I'm struggling to daily walk through scripture with God, leaning on him in every aspect of my life. But when it comes to teaching other people and helping them walk through their life biblically and with God, I'm on top of it. Often I am more interested in having fun with people than being a whitness for Christ. I feel the pull to hang out with mostly Christians, feeling comfortable and saying the right things. In short, if I wanted to, I could appear very Christian without actually obeying God. It's easy to trick yourself into thinking you're ok when other Christians think you're ok. You end up doing nothing God tells you to. Works great on earth. But not so much after that. I think a lot of Christians struggle with this same thing and would rather please other Christians than God. We say, I don't want to be weird and share the gospel, so I'll teach a Bible class. I don't want to spend my Saturday feeding the poor, so I'll invite my church friends over for fellowship. I don't want to make the commitment to daily walking with you, but I'll go to church and sunday school every week. God sees right through us and "will judge men for things done in secret."
Without his grace, would we ever be able to stand? "What a wretched man I am. Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God- through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"Only time will tell; time will surely tell."
