Walk Faithfully

Sitting is comfortable. We all like to sit. Studies show that the average person can only stand comfortably for about 20 minutes. Then they want to sit. Standing is uncomfortable. Walking or running is even more uncomfortable for extended periods of time. Eventually our weak bodies give out and we must either sit and rest or collapse from exhaustion.

Are you sitting in your faith? Are you sitting in your relationship with Christ? You never hear someone ask you how your sit with Christ is going. They always ask you how your walk with Christ is going. In Genesis 5 we read about a man named Enoch. He walked with God faithfully for 300 years and then “was no more” because God took him. Walking implies movement and progress. If you are sitting in your relationship with Christ then you are stuck in sluggish passivity.  The true Christian life is one of growth, progress, and development, not one of idleness and comfort. Though walking may be uncomfortable at times, we are called to do it faithfully.

You may be standing for Christ. You may acknowledge your faith publicly and be sharing your faith as you stand. But standing is only half way to walking. You must move. You must progress. You must journey. You must grow in your faith. You cannot grow and progress whilst you are sitting down or standing in place. We are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus, not take up our cross and stand in place or take up our cross and then set it down and pop a squat. You have not been called to pop a squat. You have been called to follow Jesus and that begins with movement, with walking faithfully.  

People Pleasing

Are you a people pleaser? Whether or not you admit it, you have most likely been ensnared by the trap of people pleasing. The things you wear, the way you make yourself look, the things you say, the things you do…they are all most likely done to please someone else. You want people to look at you and think highly of you. You want people to like the things you say and the things you do. You want to be accepted and approved of by people, especially the ones that you like. We all have a burning desire to be love and be loved. Almost everything we do, whether consciously or subconsciously, is done out of a desire to please the people around us so that they will like us or approve of us. In Galatians 1, Paul has some words for us concerning this habit of people pleasing that we all tend to have.

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

-       Galatians 1:10

Paul is talking here about teaching the true gospel of Jesus and not one that people want to hear. Many pastors today are preaching a gospel that people want to hear, yet has nothing to do with Jesus, repentance, or true salvation. Paul emphatically states that he is not trying to please men or win the approval of humans, but that he is trying to please God! His last statement is very powerful. If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Pleasing men and serving Christ are not the same thing. If Paul was trying to please men, then he would not be a servant of Christ. Servants of Christ do not have the goal of pleasing men, they have the goal of pleasing God.

If you are trying to please people then you are wasting your time. If you are constantly worrying about the way you look, the things people think about you, the way people talk about you, then you are missing the big picture. You are missing something vitally important. Stop worrying about what people think about you and start worrying about what God thinks about you. Stop worrying about being enslaved to people’s opinions of you, and allow yourself to be enslaved to God’s goodness and love. Stop trying to please men, and serve Christ with all of your being. Only then will you find true love and pure acceptance from a God who loves you in spite of you are.  

What are you waiting for?

Stop being stagnant in your faith. Get up and move. You have been called to do something. You have been called to advance the Kingdom of God. What are you waiting for?

Know God.

If you are a Christian then you believe that you have a personal relationship with God. You believe that God loves you and you love him and you guys are all buddy buddy. You claim that you and God know each other personally and have an understanding. A relationship.

What does it mean to have a personal relationship with a person? Does it mean you blab to a person and complain to them and ask for things and ask for advice and help only when you are in trouble? Does it mean you don’t even really talk to them every day? Or even every week? And when you do talk to them, you do all the talking? Does it mean you don’t know that much about the person except what other people have told you? Does it mean that you sometimes aren’t even sure if they are real or if they exist only in your mind? Does it mean that you ignore them when they finally do try and get your attention? Do you share emotions with them? Do you really care?

Having a personal relationship is the opposite of all of those things! Conversation goes both ways! You listen to them and they listen to you! You stop complaining and let them speak to you as well! You talk to them every day and have a desire to be near them and with them! When you are with them, you share conversation with one another! You don’t know just what other people have told you, you know them from personal experiences! You get to know them better the more time you spend with them! You begin to think alike, feel alike, and share the same heart and mind. You are always sure they exist! It would be preposterous to think they were only real some of the time! If they get your attention you listen to them and hear out what they have to say! You are happy when you are with them! You get mad at them! You get frustrated with them! You laugh with them!

Many of us claim to have a personal relationship but have no idea what that really means! We have no idea what it means to truly be in community with God. We have no idea how to truly share a relationship with God. Open your eyes and your heart to Christ and build a relationship with him. It doesn’t happen overnight. Build a relationship with God. Stop tricking yourself into thinking that you have a relationship with God when in reality you have absolutely nothing. 

Corrupting Talk

Samuel Clemens, writing under the pseudonym Mark Twain, famously said, “It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than open ones mouth and remove all doubt.” We have all been there. That moment where you say something and then immediately regret that you let those words slip between your lips. Samuel Clemens might have come up with this quote after reading from a different book…Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

Words are the most powerful thing in the world and when they are not used properly, they quickly become the most dangerous thing in the world. Words have the power to start wars and end wars, to save lives and ruin them, to speak wisdom to millions of people or to speak lies to millions of people. One word might be enough to end a friendship, a relationship, or even a person’s walk with Christ. As a Christ follower, your words must reflect the heart and mind of Christ. If you bear the name of Christ, your words also bear his name. If you claim to love God but use foul language, make up lies, spread rumors, or whisper about things that do not concern you, then you are not one with the heart of Christ.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

-       Ephesians 4:29

“Corrupting talk” in this context refers to something rotten or foul. Other translations use the word “unwholesome”. This is not limited to what we refer to as using curse words or cussing. Corrupting talk is something that is rotten and causes divides among Christ followers. Anything unwholesome that you say that causes divide among believers is rotten. Not only does it harm the relationships of everyone involved, it comes with the potential to destroy the Kingdom of God. Your words have the power to divide believers. They also have the power to do the opposite of that last part in Eph. 4:29. Our words are supposed to give grace to those who hear. Your words must reflect the heart of Christ so that the lost can see His light through your words. Speak appropriate words that build up and do not become tempted to speak corrupting words. 

Sunsets

Look at that sunset. It is absolutely breathtaking. In my opinion, all sunsets are something special. If I saw the sun go down every day, my mind would be blown every day. There is something special about sunsets that grabs our attention and won’t let go until the sun is down. Something that I have noticed in the past month or so is this: The cloudiest days end in the most beautiful sunsets. Several days this past month I was looking forward to seeing the sunset, and was afraid I would be robbed of the sight because it was immensely cloudy all day. Yet, every single day, right around the same time, the sun would break through the clouds and paint them a dazzling orange or a brilliant combination of pink and blue. Without the clouds…it would have still been beautiful, but not nearly as breathtaking.

There is a powerful spiritual truth to be taken from sunsets. The cloudiest days end in the most beautiful sunsets. In our lives we will have spiritually sunny days and spiritually cloudy days. Maybe weeks or months even, owned by either sun or clouds. There will be times where the clouds own the day; where darkness engulfs and seems to overpower everything. But we have been told:

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

- John 12:46

Even if the day, week, month, etc, is owned by the clouds, the Lord’s light rules the darkness. His light breaks through the darkness and the clouds and paints a sunset even more beautiful than if there had been no clouds. Do not allow yourself to be overcome by darkness. Hold out until the sunset and watch the darkness fold under the unrelenting sunset that is Christ’s light.

Doubt

In the past several years I have heard many sermons about doubt. Some people say it is bad to doubt what you believe because then you are either questioning or weak in your faith. Others say that doubt is good because it forces you to ponder and formulate beliefs that are grounded on something deeper. I personally see a great value in doubt and questioning. The more you doubt something, the more you think about it and force yourself to decide what you really believe.

I know many people, maybe you are this way too, that do not doubt what I might call “the big stuff”. They don’t doubt that Jesus is real, that God is real. They probably don’t doubt that Jesus died on the cross to save them 2,000 years ago. They probably don’t doubt that God is in control. But they are still doubting. They doubt that God really cares about them personally. They doubt that God is always present, even through the worst of times. They doubt that God is listening to their prayers and cries of anguish. They doubt that God is constantly intervening in every aspect of their lives in order to strengthen, perfect, and complete them.

As Christians this is part of the process of becoming Christ-like. You will always have doubts about your faith and about how God is using you and the events in your life to make you complete in his eyes. If you have never had doubts as a Christian then you just might be in trouble. If you worry about whether or not you love Christ enough, then I would guess you do. Doubt is a positive thing as long as, in the end, your faith is strengthened. God loves you. He loves his children. He will not give a child of his any more than they can handle…with his help. If you are doubting, hear this: God is very real. He is very powerful. And he loves you very much. If you trust him and let him carry your burdens, he will never let you down. Let your doubt strengthen your faith, not tear it down. God will never fail you and never let you down. You need only trust in him.