The question I was asked to answer is this, "What effect does your belief have on the way you live your life?"
My response: "Everything. Belief drives actions."
I went on to write: "For example, I used to believe that I chose God, therefore He was obligated to obey me. I got angry when He didn't do things my way. When I was about 42, I was stunned by a passage I had read and heard many times, as if seeing it for the first time:
John 15:17 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit...."
I wanted to argue, "He spoke these words to the apostles, not me." However, I began to find other passages that verified that He chose all His children, not only those special few disciples. (For example, see Ephesians 1:3-6; Romans 8:28-34; 9:11-23; John 6:44-45; 10:26-29.)
If He chose me, then I am His inferior and I must obey Him, not vice versa. How despicably presumptuous I had been all those years of bossing Him around. My anger toward Him not only was unfounded, but was a travesty of the worst sort against His sovereignty. "Shall I, the clay, say to the Potter, 'Why have you formed me thus an such?' Has not the Potter the right to shape His vessels any way He deems necessary for His purposes?"
And what are His purposes?
First, to glorify Himself.
Secondly, to do what is best for us. This means, like a wise parent, He withholds certain things from us - things that we may strongly desire, and may not understand why He withholds. Things that may even appear to us like they would be good for us. Like a wise parent, He disciplines our sin. Like a wise parent, He requires hard things of us in order to mature us.
I didn't understand these concepts - truly understand - until the last few years. Habits of wrong thinking had to be torn down and righteous thinking built up. I'm still doing it - probably will be till the day I die. The Word of God is helping me renew my mind, and thus changing my actions.
The most disturbing of my old habits is one of walking in defeat, pulling others down with me. Another sin habit was/is responding out of fear (sinning in the process), instead of using the eyes of faith. It's all because I didn't know the Word of God. I didn't know who He is.
As I have committed to studying the Word and hiding it in my heart so I won't sin against Him, I am coming to fear this terrifying God who has the ability not only to kill the body, but to send my soul to eternal damnation. This fear makes a difference in the daily choices I make.
I can hear someone crying "foul" about now. "You make Him look like some awful, spiteful ruler. You've got Him all wrong. He's a God of grace." I won't argue with you on the grace part. But we've done the pendulum swing from the hell-fire-and-brimstone gracelessness of the 1950's to an almost grace-only church culture. We seem to be ignoring all the times that God wiped people out because of their cavalier attitude toward His will and His ways. Read 2 Samuel 6:1-15 and see what happened when the Ark of the Covenant was transported in a manner different than that prescribed by Yahweh. And what happened to Nadab and Abihu, who offered fire on their own terms? (See Leviticus 10:1-3.) Or to Korah and his followers when they rebelled in the desert? (See Numbers 16.)
"But that's the Old Testament," you protest. "This is the New Testament era."
Okay. Then take a look at Acts 5:1-11. God's response to the deceit of husband and wife, Ananias and Sapphira was to strike them dead on the spot. Verse 11 says that "great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things."
The Lord hates sin. We as a church-culture seem to have forgotten that. We need to become thoroughly acquainted with God's holy nature; and we must become holy even as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-19). We must fear the Lord with proper reverence. We must hate sin as much as He does.
But there must be balance. Pastor Marcus Serven tells of a Scottish preacher who went on a hiking trip in the Scottish highlands. After a bit, he met with a river that he wished to cross. There was no bridge, so he travelled parallel to the river bank. He came upon an old Scotsman with a rowboat, and hired the old man to ferry him to the other side. While crossing, he offered to row awhile. Inscriptions on the oar handles caught his attention. The left oar read, "Law," the right oar read, "Grace."
"Why do you have these words on the oars?" the young man asked the ferryman.
The old Scotsman instructed him to row with only the "Law" oar. Of course, when the preacher did that, the boat traveled in a circle. Then he was told to row with only the "Grace" oar. He obtained the same result, only in the opposite direction.
"Now row with both oars," said the old man. Mr. Serven says, "He made it in short order to the other side."
The boatman had made his point. When we focus only on grace, we will be off balance, in the direction of license. When we focus only on law, we will become harsh and proud. The good news for us believers is that, although we need to respect this holy God, there is also His grace available to us. We don't have to cringe under the table, incapacitated by our fear of Him. The good news is that, because we are His adopted children - covered by the blood of His precious Son, Jesus Christ, we have privileges, rights and resources available to us that help us walk fearlessly and victoriously. As we fulfill our responsibilities to Him, He makes it possible for us to serve Him joyfully. What an awesome, mighty, worthy God we serve! May His name ever be praised! Amen.
Hester
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