life

Ask God First

I’d like for you to consider with me human reasoning and why it is not capable of guiding us in this life on its own.  

How do most people make decisions in life?  Well, typically we draw off of experiences we’ve had in the past, or we draw from the experience of others in similar situations.  We use what we’ve been able to gather with our five senses in order to draw a conclusion.  We hear the admonition from others to “follow our hearts” or “follow your gut”, and it will all work out.  I would submit to you today that it would be foolish to follow that advice.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 10:23, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”  Also it is written twice in the book of Proverbs, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (14:12, 16:25)  Hearing these verses, is it becoming clear why it is not wise to rely on human reasoning to direct our lives?  

Consider this….we’ve all set out to make plans for the future, whether they be business plans or plans for our personal finances, or plans for how we will handle life circumstances.  The Bible records for us two individuals who ended up being punished for making plans!  

Luke 12:20ff, “Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’  So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

Here this man has worked hard and earned in abundance and is making plans to retire and take his ease.  It seemed reasonable to him, but what was the problem?

James 4:13ff, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”  But now you boast in your arrogance.  All such boasting is evil.”

Do you see the problem?  The problem was that they left God out of their plans.  They did not consider His will or His truth.  We live in a society that is pushing God away.  We’ve pushed Him out of our schools, out of the workplace, and out of our government.  We want to rely on human wisdom, fleshly wisdom to guide our paths.

Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”  Friends, we need to consider God’s will for our lives.  We need to include Him in our plans and in our decision making.  We need to think spiritually and not carnally.  We need to allow God’s word to direct our lives and not allow emotionalism to rule the day.  

I pray that you’ve read this message today and it has caused you to reflect on your life and how you’re living it.  I hope you’ve considered the path that God would have you to take in your life.  God’s desire is for all of man “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4)  I encourage you to read the Bible daily to find God’s truth and to seek out a local church of Christ in your area where you will find like-minded individuals who are doing the same.

The Nature of Man

2 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”

There is a strong belief today among many people that mankind is just another animal, no different than a dog or a monkey. Yet scripture teaches us otherwise. In the verse above, Paul confirms that there is something unique about our makeup that distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom. He speaks of the inward man and the outward man. What does he mean? Let’s go back to the account given in Genesis chapter 1 regarding the creation of man.

Genesis 1:26,27 “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him: male and female He created them.”

So we see the creation of man having something additional than that of the animals that were created. Man was created in the image of God. Not meaning that we physically look like God, but that we have His “likeness”. We have an eternal spirit. This is what Paul called the “inward” man. Paul refers to the spirit of man in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?…”

Unlike the animal kingdom, we have two aspects of life: physical and spiritual. The former is temporary, while the latter is eternal. Our spirit will remain living even after our physical body has perished. We are God’s special creation. We are created in His likeness. While we must tend to our physical life, we must also have concern for our spiritual life.

The Hebrew writer wrote “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” (Heb. 12:9) As children, we receive discipline and correction from our earthly fathers that help us to grow and mature and be successful in our earthly life. But what about our spiritual life? Do we make ourselves subject to the discipline of God so that we may grow and mature spiritually?

Death occurs when the spirit is removed from the body. Our physical body will return from where it came (Genesis 3:19). Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” Physical death is the first death. But, it is not the end as some would have you believe.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Man is able to kill the physical body but cannot kill the soul. As stated earlier, the soul returns to God who gave it. God will determine the fate of the soul, and he will determine that fate based upon how we lived our lives while existing on the earth. Therefore, we must tend to our spiritual life while we exist physically upon this earth, knowing that physical death is not the end.

Matthew 16:24-27, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.'”

A judgment day is coming. Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed for man to die once, but after this the judgment.” We will be judged according to how we lived our lives before our physical death. Did we live according to God’s will? Or, did we neglect God and do whatever our physical bodies willed us to do? This will determine whether we have an eternal existence in the presence of God, or whether we will live on in everlasting torment having been separated from God forever. So the answer to the all important question that is asked by most people, “What is my purpose for living?” is answered for us by our Creator.

Ecclesiastes 12: 13,14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Running The Race

The idea of life in general being a race isn’t a new one.  It’s a race that we begin at birth when we enter this world, and we work hard towards the goals that we set before ourselves.  We’ve all heard of the term “rat race”, and certainly life does sometimes feel like a rat race, where we are just working and working, going through the motions to achieve success.  The apostle Paul used the analogy of a race while speaking to the church at Corinth.  Found in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Paul writes, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.  Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”  

There is one point I want to make that goes along with the analogy of the Christian race.  There are many TV evangelists that mislead their followers by preaching what can be referred to as “health and wealth” type of sermons.  They urge their followers to just ask Jesus into their hearts (sinner’s prayer) and make a pledge (almost always a monetary gift) to their organization and God will bless them with health and wealth.  It would seem that being a Christian is just that easy.  Send in money and you will be saved.  But is that true?

Let’s think about Paul’s race analogy.  If living a Christian life is a race, that would imply that one would have to put forth effort in order to win that race and have the reward of Heaven as their eternal home.  Have you ever known a competitor who is running a race to remain on the starting line at the sound of the gun and win that race?  It just can’t happen.  Those competing must put forth an effort, work hard to compete in that race in order to obtain the prize.  Living a Christian life is no different.  The Bible lays out the work that a Christian must do to obtain the reward of Heaven.  One can’t simply believe and be saved, as that is equivalent to standing on the starting line while the race goes on.  Belief in Christ, repenting of sins, confessing Christ before men, and being immersed in the waters of baptism is only the beginning of the Christian’s “race” toward Heaven.  Do not be deceived by those who would have you believe otherwise.