Lost in the Ocean
“Now do you believe, that God commands you not to be conformed to the world? Do you believe it? And dare you obey it, let people say what they will about you? Dare you now separate yourselves from the world, and never again be controlled by its maxims, and never again copy its practices, and never again be whiffled here and there by its fashions? I know a man that lives so, I can mention his name, he pays no attention to the customs of the world in this respect. And what is the result? Wherever that man goes, he leaves the impression behind that he is a Christian. O, if one church would do so, and would engage in it with all the energy that men of the world engage in their business, they would turn the world upside down. Will you do so? Will you break off from the world now, and enter into covenant with God, and declare that you will dare to be singular enough to be separate from the world, and from this time set your faces as a flint to obey God, let the world say what they will? Dare you do it? Will you do it?”
Charles Finney
“Change means traveling in uncharted waters and this causes our securities to rise.”
John Maxwell
Ephesians 4:14-16 (NASB) “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking in truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up itself in love.”
A young man once said, "My God, show me what to do, send me anywhere You want, I will submit to you too the fullest. Give me the strength to do your will, give me the strength to live my life for you. Even if it means giving up everything I have and love. I tell you this because I love you and I surrender my life to you, your all this life is worth living for."
When I hear this, it makes me wish all Christians lived by this, but that's just it! This is how we are supposed to be living! A life of submission to our Father in Heaven. But why is it that most Christians see this, but yet, they still do not give up everything they are to God. There are many reasons why, but I'm going to go over three main points.
One, the Christians of today are numb! They've become numb to the sin of the world. You might be thinking, "what's that mean, we live in the world and sin is in the world, so what are we supposed to do about that?" But what I'm saying is this, God did not intend for us to be unaffected by the sin of the world, not that were supposed run around in fear of it but that when we see evil and perversion we will look at it in disgust and want no part of it.
James 4:4 (NASB)
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
I look back at some of the many things I did in the past and I see that I befriended the world and I said entertain me. I decided to give in into the desires of the world because I didn't want my friends to think I was "sheltered", or I wanted to say that I was my own person and I could do what I wanted.
Christians know what they’re doing when they sin, even if they've done it many times. Deep down they know what they're doing is wrong. Too many times does a Christian use the excuse,’ I didn't know what I was doing, or I didn't think it was that bad, and many including myself think, “God will forgive me." But don't you see, God doesn't want excuses, And He sure won’t be used as if He were a credit card. He wants us to come clean and break down before Him. When we try to make sin a not so big issue it tears us apart from God. In the Bible God says that He cannot be with us if we are stained by the sin of the world and live in its lifestyle.
Matthew 5:20 (The Message)
“Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom.”
And then I think to myself, if I sin all the time how am I supposed to grow closer to Him? How can God grow in me if I say I live for Him, but turn around and sin? Well the fact is, we can't. How do you expect God to abide in us when we live in a sinful lifestyle?
And after some time of playing this in my mind I figured it out, Paul talked about how we were supposed to live clean and sinless lives.
Romans 6:1-2 (NASB)
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
But we sin, how are we supposed to be “perfect?”
We chose to sin, we are the ones that chose to go against God and do exactly what He doesn’t want us to do. We are never tempted beyond what our minds can handle. We chose to fail God, we chose to screw it up.
There will come a point in your life when you will be stuck in a position, you will have the choice to stay in a life where you know that you are living for yourself and your flesh. Or you can choose to say no, and rely on God’s strength to make it through these temptations.
I didn't understand what it meant to give up everything. I wouldn’t give Him my emotions, my friendships, my schoolwork, and every little thing I did. I didn’t know what it meant to be in submission to God. You will either rise up and become a child of God, or you will fall because you wouldn’t say no to the sin because you decided to be numb to it.
The second reason why Christians are not living in full submission to God is because they are afraid of giving up a bunch of little things that God wants them to give up!
Romans 6:11-12 (NASB)
“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey
its lusts.”
From what I see, this is the number one factor why Christians have such a “hard” time living for God. It is because they let sin reign in their lives and they wont give it up to Him.
For so long we have been used to doing these “little” things in our lives, dirty jokes, crummy movies and music, selfishness of your own flesh, you fill in the blanks. But when God asks us to give up the little things it seems so hard, we try to convince ourselves that it's not a big deal and we try to shove it aside. And yet, that voice comes back and seems to haunt you. You wish God would just make it clear of what He wants, but He is! He's saying,” give up these little things and serve me for I am holy and I require you to be holy." I've seen this too often, people let the little things destroy their relationship with God, and it separates them from Him because they’re not willing to give up something. Well here's the truth, it's only going to get harder the longer you try to make up your mind of whether or not your going to let go.
Why is it so hard for Christians to say no to this world! We say we love Christ and then we live a life opposite of what He commands. The things of this world are so small compared to the God of all creation and what He has to offer us. Why do we give in so easily, why do we feel that we can become like the rest of the world and be a Christian at the same time? The enemy tells us that it’s ok if we sin because other Christians do. He makes us feel that’s ok if we sin because God will forgive us.
But you know what, how can you ever expect to live for God when you can’t keep His laws?
It's true that the enemy will try to confuse you and twist up the truth, but there's a point where you must push everything aside and there's only you and God. You’re at the point of wishing you weren't alive, the point where God is so real and all you can do is cry out to Him. Wanting to know why something so small has to be so big! But this is the point where your relationship with God comes down to it, "are you willing to do anything He requires of you?”
This is the relationship God requires of us, but ask yourself, are you willing to give up a priceless relationship with God because of fear, of not having a few things that He wants you to give up? Is it worth it to live in despair because you care what the world thinks of you? When God says this is just a short time on earth, what does that mean to you? He says that we aren't supposed to become attached to the things of this world! That we aren’t supposed to live in sin. How can we live in sin when we are supposed to have died to it? Are you willing? Are you willing to give up anything for God?
The third reason why Christians are not what they are supposed to be is because we're too comfortable! All we can do is think how can I make things easier for me. It's true we are blessed to live in a free country, but we are so comfort- able with how things are. Why would we want to change them? Because we look like the rest of the world, the way we act a non -Christian could never tell the difference.
As Christians, we are supposed to be different, act different, live different. When we have that fulfilling love of God in our heart people will want to know what we have. Sometimes I thought, “how could I ever be like that?” It sounds more like Paul from the Bible. Well the fact is we can't be like this unless we get out of our comfort zone, we give up everything we are to God, we give up the friendship with the world, we are not stained by the sin of the world. We must stop thinking about what can I get out of it but how can I serve God.
When we forget everything in this world, and see that it doesn't matter! When you put aside everything for God then you will know what it means to live life the way He intended for us. When you put aside your selfish ambitions and only see Jesus, then you will know life.
Matthew 5:13-16 (NASB)
“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Rev. 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
“I look to the sky and see,
That there is only one type of Christian I can be,
A Christian that reflects God’s love.
And I can only dream of Him above.
There is hope, there is love, there is truth!
I see that life, it is not strife,
But the very essence of being.
Oh Lord, let me be something more,
Then what I see here.
All I ask is that You smile upon me,
And let it be…
That You never leave this poor soul,And may I always have that one set goal…Amen”
