KEEP IT REAL

Have you ever heard the statement that once you decide to follow Jesus, your life makes this dramatic turn for the better, a turn that includes being “blessed” and having everything “work out” for you. Now don’t get me wrong, I think following Jesus is the very best way to live your life, the way we were created by God to live. I just struggle with this image of being a Christian that tells people that once they “come to Jesus” everything just seems to “work,” everything just gets better and better. Where did we get these notions about God?

This is not the truth that the Bible presents. The truth is the Bible is filled with people who chose to follow God, only to see their lives not get better, but in fact get worse. The truth is the Bible is filled with people who cried out to God from the depths of their soul, “Where are you, God?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.”—Psalm 22:1-2
 
The reality is that genuine Christ-following is not something that avoids the difficulties of life, sweeping them under the rug of faith. Real Christ-following is something that embraces life as it is — with all its difficulties and struggles — seeing that what is, is not what will always be, that things can change.
 
Early followers of God understood this. They knew that a relationship with God was a dialogue, often filled with very real and very raw emotion. They argued, questioned, and even doubted God. They expressed their feelings of abandonment and disappointment with Him. They expressed their frustration and feelings of betrayal. In short, they lamented. They reminded God of His past faithfulness to their ancestors, crying out from their present pain, asking Him to be faithful once again. Still, they knew that God was big enough for all these emotions and more.
 
If you’ve ever felt like God has left you, or that God has abandoned you — you’re in good company. God’s Word is full of people who felt just like you do. If there’s one thing that the Church needs to recapture, it is this sense of lament. 

So what about you? How real are you in your relationship with Him? How do you see God? Where do you have this sense that God has left you? Where do you need God to be faithful once again? Keeping it real and crying out to Him, with sincere and honest emotion is perhaps the most faith-filled thing you could ever do. It’s not like you’re hiding what you are honestly feeling from Him. He knows. He cares. He’s listening.

Keep it real! Cry out from the depths of your being... He has been faithful in the past, and He will be faithful once again. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 80-20 Rule

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.   Although this rule was first applied in Italy when Pareto was looking at the dispersal of wealth, it has since become a rule of thumb for many businesses.   It has been said that 20% of your workforce does 80% of the work, or 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.   I think this law comes into play in our lives as well.   Life is 20% what happens to you and 80% what you make of it. There are tons of stories about people who come out of difficult situations — gang life, in and out of jail, drug addiction, broken families, abuse – yet still seem to rise to the top.   And of course, there are many stories of those who have been given everything they would n
Read more

FREEDOM’S PRICE

In 1781, the Fourth of July was named a national holiday and today fireworks, parades and picnics still mark this celebration. Because on July 4, 1776 The Declaration of Independence proclaimed the thirteen colonies free from British rule. What proceeded and followed this declaration were the historic battles still taught in every elementary school. For six years the colonies shook with the Battles of Concord and Lexington, Bunker Hill and Saratoga. The war finally ended at Valley Forge where British General Cornwallis surrendered to what would be the United States’ first president, George Washington. Two years later the British and the Americans signed a peace treaty in France. Freedom does not come without a price. Through the Revolutionary War our nation’s freedom was paid for by the blood and sacrifice of the men and women who fought for their dream of what would become the United States. The battles were not easy, and the years took their toll on our young nation. In t
Read more

WALK THE TALK

As far as your spiritual life is concerned religious talk is not good enough. The apostle John makes this clear in his little epistle 1 John 2:4-6. If someone claims, “I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. John is not talking about sinless perfection here but rather that a Christ-follower is to relate to others the way Jesus did. In other words we have to walk the walk like Jesus. Walking as Jesus walked begins with loving other people. Christ-followers have tried to make Christianity more difficult than it really is. We’ve make it about church membership, or a particular theological persuasion, or saying the right words during baptism, or what version of the Bible is the only one to be used. The apostle is clear. W
Read more