Grace For The Journey

I want to use the next two blogs to continue our look into the Scripture regarding “straddling the fence.”  Yesterday we began this study by dealing with the question, ‘Who do you belong to?  In today’s climate it seems that some are advocating a kind of an undercover approach to living for God.  The goal is not to offend or appear “holier-than-thou.”   It has led to Christians “straddling the fence” to appear more normal and less offensive.  Have you been straddling the fence lately?

The Bible says in 2 Kings 17:39-42, “But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.  So these nations feared the LORD, yet served their carved images, also their children, and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.”

Israel of the past is so much like many today.   They know there is a God.  They believe in Him, at least they claim it with their speech, but hypocritically worship AND live for other “gods.”

There are some religions, that although they claim to be Christian, incorporate praying to statues (idols) and people of the religion’s past.  Not all “gods” are as clear as those idols found in some religions.  Many of the “gods” are things that get more attention than our Creator and the lover of our soul should be receiving.

These false “gods” can be a job, a spouse, a person, a shiny new car, a house, a sports team, or anything that makes us put something ahead of loving and living for God.

Although one’s justification

May be that

“I need that thing”,

“A man has to work”,

Or even

“God understands that

I am in a world

And I have to do

What I have to do to survive,”

The attention those things receive

Shows God He is not

The priority in one’s life.

He deserves to be.

It is important to know that in this area – God does not understand.  He commands us to put Him first!  The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:5 and in Mark 12:30, ““And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  This is the first commandment.”

Yet, today a lot of people object to the need to put God as a first priority in their live.  Someone reply, “Well, if I put God first, I will have nothing to live on, people will laugh at me, and I will be an outcast!”  Much of the lost respect for Christianity comes from that kind of compromising done by so many that claim to be Christians.

Yet, God says in Matthew 6:31-33, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, What shall we wear?  For after all these things do the Gentiles see. For your heavenly Father knows that you need of all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

God will take care of His own, especially those that are totally relying on Him.  The Bible says in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

One needs only rely on Him.

That is the way He wants it.

We cannot have it both ways.  We should not live for the world, make it the highest priority, and then only tip our hat to God once a week.

God should be the One

We look to and lean upon,

Not the world’s ever-changing whims.

A Christian has no business

Straddling the fence between

Living for God and living for the world.

The Bible reminds us in James 4:4, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

We are in the world

And

Do need some things it offers.

However . . .

Do not make

What it temporarily offers

Your primary concern.

To do so is not

Putting God first.

Get off the “fence” of trying to be on both sides: God’s and the world’s.  God will provide and take care of you if you will just trust and obey Him.  God lays down the principle in Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Stop sitting on the fence . . . Make the right choice today!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”