Christian Living

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The other day, my wife and I were talking about why some believers in the body of Christ don’t have the same passion and hunger for the Word. For those of us who have been in church any length of time we have seen the lack of commitment or desire in some of our fellow Christians.

This conversation caused me to reflect on a time when I was immature in my own walk and their lack of desire and commitment would anger me. I would mutter to myself, “Weren’t they seeking God with all their heart and soul to have their prayers answered? Didn’t God just help them in their situation?” I couldn’t understand why they would allow the very thing God gave them to get in the way of receiving the Word. Their nonchalant attitude towards hearing the Word or going to church would make me upset. I thought, “How selfish of them to run to God for their answer and when everything is peachy, they’re off and doing their own thing.”

It just didn’t seem fair or right to “use” God this way. I thought that God should at least exact a certain amount of dedication in exchange for His wisdom or answers to their prayers. He should have a sliding scale of merit, right? If His sons and daughters were truly dedicated and pious, then He should offer only a little bit of wisdom until they show more dedication. Doesn’t that sound fair?

Well, I am happy to inform you that I no longer think that way! In what I thought would be a fair way of dealing with this sort of thing, not only was I passing judgment, but I was forgetting who God Is. God is Love. (1 John 4:8) God is our Father. He’s our Abba Father—our Daddy.

You know, I am blessed to have a loving father who I look to for examples of what our heavenly father must be like. And I know that if I ever mess up and run to him for help he will be more than happy to help me and fill me up. This may surprise you, but as a teen I wasn’t always faithful and good. I would run to my dad and ask forgiveness. Even afterwards, I would sometimes continue down the wrong path. But my actions didn’t squelch my father’s love. In fact, I would return and ask for mercy again and again. Sure I disappointed him, but his love never diminished in any way. My dad’s arms were never closed to me and his mercy and forgiveness were never less.

Can our heavenly father do any less than what an earthly father can do? No! He does so much more! I am reminded of Matthew 7:11, where Jesus says exactly the same thing. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” In my judgmental anger I was sinning. I was allowing their actions to offend me and I was trying to defend God’s position by requiring those people to present a worthy ballot and request before they approached the throne room of God. And that is not my place.

God reminded me in Hebrews 4:16, that we can “…approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace…” He has also told us in John 6:24, “…ask and you will receive,..” He went further and told me that He forgives them and He forgives me. But He made it very clear for me to stop demanding that they fit my set of rules.

Praise God, I am so glad to be free of that! But there is still the case of our friends that don’t share our same conviction and desire. Now, I no longer feel angry or upset with them, but their actions are saddening.

My wife and I saw a correlation between their life and that of a tree. You can water a tree once a week and it will continue to live. If the tree is large enough, you can water it even less and you won’t notice the difference right away. But after time, the tree weakens and becomes more susceptible to attack and rot. Eventually the tree will wither up and die.

My concern now is for those fellow Christians who, perhaps, believe they can get by in this life on a limited supply of water. If so, how will they survive when Satan throws daggers their way? From what well will they draw the necessary strength to overcome sickness and disease, unemployment, or death of a loved one? Their water well has dried up because they did not continue drinking the water of the Word. Psalms 119:50 says, “This is my comfort and consolation in my affliction: that Your Word has revived me and given me life.
In the first Psalm, King David wrote about the righteous man. He tells us that a man is blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) whose delight and desire are in following the instructions and teachings of God. This man habitually meditates, ponders and studies God’s Word by day and by night. Then he compares the blessed man by saying, “…he shall be like a tree firmly planted and tended by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper.”
Friends, as followers of Christ, we will never be blessed and prosperous by getting watered two hours every Sunday in church. No! The Word says study day and night. Begin living your life in such a way that you are like the tree planted by rivers of water. God has provided it, now it’s up to you do as He says. Jesus himself said, “…whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing and bubbling) continually within him into everlasting life. (John 4:14)

So, go ahead! I encourage you to abide in God and drink daily from the water of His Word. And His life will well up and flow out of you!

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