I have an acquaintance that tends to bring up God and spiritual things almost every time we meet. Now, it’s very possible they are trying to relate to me knowing I’m “religious”…I get that label sometimes. Makes me chuckle really.
I know this person does not yet claim to have a relationship with God through Christ, mainly because when we talk they explain in round-about ways that they have affection for God and have a Bible and have relatives that are church goers but they never seem to have any more to say.
I guess what intrigues me is that they are interested at all. It’s clear to me they are searching. I know God is working in their hearts. But I wonder to myself, why don’t they just get to it! Time is fleeting! Let go and trust God! Why do they seem to have such terms for their interest in Him. This is as far as I’m willing to go.
What a miserable place to be. Almost convinced. Maybe even contented to be pulling the strings in your experience with God. There is no peace there my friend! It might be one of the hardest places to live.
I want to cry out, “Hurry up! Don’t waste your time in this limbo. Don’t waste your time devising a ‘religion that suits you.’ Run to Him! Begin to enjoy Him now and don’t waste another minute!”
There’s nothing worse than looking for God on your terms. There is nothing better than finding God on His.
All of our personal ideas of coming to God lead to a dead end. What makes God so great is that He is infinitely wiser and higher than we are. We could never devise a plan to reach Him. We can only come to Him on His terms. We must follow the path He designed for us to find Him. Frankly, I’m in awe He’s even made a way for us at all.
And when we find Him, we find ourselves.
“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
― C.S. Lewis
PINIMAGE
But here we are…trying to experience God on our terms:
I give to charities.
I attend church regularly.
I teach a Sunday school class.
I say a prayer before meals and sometimes at bedtime.
I go to confession.
I love everyone.
God gets me.
God and I have an understanding.
Stop this foolish thinking. It’s stealing moments of your life away even now.
“If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God’s, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.” – John Stott
I’m going to share a passage with you that I read just this morning. It fills my heart with an overwhelming sense of the Great and Loving God I have been invited to know and enjoy. Friend, do you know Him?
Ephesians 2:1-10 basically tells us how this whole thing works…this great news for us! Maybe it’s news you need to hear today. Perhaps it’s time you stop devising a god you can “live with” and turn to the Living God!
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Look at this great news!
You were dead in your sins…a subject of God’s wrath. But GOD so rich in mercy and love offers you life through Christ Jesus. You can’t earn it. It’s His plan for redemption. We can’t take credit. But those who come to God on His terms will now be examples to others of God’s kindness toward us.
Perhaps it’s time you stop devising a god you can “live with” and turn to the Living God!
I’m praying someone finds Him today. I would love to talk with you if you need help or have questions about how to step into a relationship with God. tammy@lifehousede.com
