Sometimes, I think it’s easy to make following Christ complex or complicated.
Many of the distractions of the world, in our culture today, muddy the waters for the believer. I struggle on a daily basis to keep things simple. In fact, when life seems complicated and void of peace and contentment, I can be assured, it’s not because I am abiding in Christ and He stepped out for a minute, leaving me hanging. It’s often because I’ve complicated this beautiful relationship with Christ, with worldy pursuits or perspectives. I begin to worship other things. Because of all that we have and the high expectation we hold for comfort, it’s easily to drift.
So, daily, I must ask myself, “Will Christ be Lord today?”
I was talking with a friend just yesterday and he said for many years, as a professing Christian, he ignored the tug on his heart to walk in step with the Lord. He told me He knew God was pressing in but he pursued other passions and frankly things were out of order. His life reflected his priorities.
His life reflected his priorities.
To others he seemed to be a “great Christian”. But he told me that all along he knew he withheld from God ALL of himself..
And here’s the thing. God wants ALL.
He wants ALL of our heart, our lives, our dreams, our worship, our pleasure, and our passion. For His glory and our good.
This morning I was reading in 2 Kings 17-18. If you’ve read the books of 1 & 2 Kings, you know that it summarizes the deeds of the kings of Israel and Judah and tells us whether they did what was pleasing in the eyes of God.
I want to share a portion of my reading today and a thought that came to my mind. I’ll set it up for you. The King of Assyria drove Israel out of Samaria. In doing so, many foreigners came to dwell in the land that God had promised His people. This was God’s land and He protected it. When the first wave of foreigners arrived, they worshiped their foreign gods. So God sent lions among them.
They sensed God’s presence and protection over the land and knew they had offended Him so they sent for one of the exiled priests of Israel to teach them God’s ways.
Let’s read 2 Kings 17:27-41
27. The king of Assyria then commanded, “Send one of the exiled priests back to Samaria. Let him live there and teach the new residents the religious customs of the God of the land.” 28So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria returned to Bethel and taught the new residents how to worship the LORD.
“Okay, we get it. Now we know what to do. We will worship God as the priest taught us, but we will do it our way…”
29But these various groups of foreigners also continued to worship their own gods. In town after town where they lived, they placed their idols at the pagan shrines that the people of Samaria had built. 30Those from Babylon worshiped idols of their god Succoth-benoth. Those from Cuthah worshiped their god Nergal. And those from Hamath worshiped Ashima. 31The Avvites worshiped their gods Nibhaz and Tartak. And the people from Sepharvaim even burned their own children as sacrifices to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
32 These new residents worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests to offer sacrifices at their places of worship. 33And though they worshiped the LORD, they continued to follow their own gods according to the religious customs of the nations from which they came. 34And this is still going on today. They continue to follow their former practices instead of truly worshiping the LORD and obeying the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands he gave the descendants of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel.
If people of our day erected statues of the idols they worshipped..what would they look like? We are reminded in verses 35-39 of God’s covenant with Israel, His chosen people, that He put in place because He loved them.
35For the LORD had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. 36But worship only the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to him. 37Be careful at all times to obey the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands that he wrote for you. You must not worship other gods. 38Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39You must worship only the LORD your God. He is the one who will rescue you from all your enemies.”
40But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices. 41So while these new residents worshiped the LORD, they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same. (emphasis mine)
But the people would not listen.
I began to think about the last phrase of the passage. He’s not talking about 2016 but he might as well be.
I thought about my conversation with my friend. Looking at his life since he fully surrendered to the Lord, it would be easy to say, it’s been turned upside down. Since giving God his ALL, he has left his lucrative business, stepped out on faith, and followed God into full time ministry, family in tow. Needless to say, things look very different. But I believe I can attest to the fact that he’s never felt more alive.
Our problem today is not, “How do I follow Christ?”
It’s “How do I follow Christ and remain where I am?” (in control, in safety, in the status quo)
Our problem today is not, “How do I follow Christ?” It’s “How do I follow Christ and remain where I am?”
Here’s the reality. You can’t.
The other gods have to go.
I want to close with an example of what that looks like to give God all. It’s found in the very next verses at the beginning of chapter 18. King Hezekiah takes the throne over Judah and here’s what the Bible says about him.
2 Kings 18
Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. 2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah,a the daughter of Zechariah. 3He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. 4He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.b
5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. 6He remained faithful to the LORD in everything,
Now I know this is an Old Testament passage. The people of that day were still looking forward to the Messiah who would come. They were under the law of Moses. They were bent to their flesh and prone to wander. But believers today can rejoice because Christ came and fulfilled the law! We have even more reason and motivation to follow after Christ and obey His commands, because He has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot not. He lives in us.
The question is, “What’s holding us back?”
If we claim to be Christ followers and are not willing to follow…what exactly do we call ourselves? Is that Christianity or are we fooling ourselves?
Perhaps, today, it’s time to do some house cleaning and remove the gods in your life that contend the throne of your heart.
- Let Christ be LORD of your life.
- Allow him to have all of you.
- Spend time learning more about Him daily in the Bible.
- Talk to Him.
- Simplify things by obeying Him, seeking Him and making Him your ALL.
He’s either Lord of All or He isn’t and the difference will change your life.
