Rewind#5: A Little Clue

Original air date: 1Jun11

So the other day I was thinking ......

Think for a minute about God, as you believe Him to be. Think about His attributes and His personality. (No really. Close your eyes for a moment and think only of God.) Think about what you believe happens when we die. Is there an afterlife? Do you believe in heaven or hell? Do you believe some people will spend eternity in the presence of God while others spend eternity in torment? If so, who? Who will be in heaven, and who will be in hell? Murderers, child molesters and Nazis? What about people who are generally decent people, but who you know are crooked businessmen, or who cheat on their husband? What about people who are incredibly loving and kind, yet live life their own way and do not honor God? Where will they spend eternity? Where will you spend eternity? Now that you’ve thought of this “list” of those who you believe will be in heaven or hell, let me ask you this: Do you agree with that list? Are all the people you call ‘bad’ in hell and the ones you call ‘good’ in heaven? Are there any that you might say, “I know God has said ‘_____’, but if *I* were God I would do it differently”? 

So here’s a little litmus test I thought of for my own beliefs recently, and I hope this might help you: If you agree with every decision that you believe God has made (and I don’t mean ‘agree’ as in ‘you think God ultimately made the right call’ - I mean that you personally would have made the same call) ... if you would have made every decision the same way you believe God has made them, then it’s possible you have created a god in your own image. In my personal experience, it is usually in the times when I can be honest with God and say, “I know that you are a fair and just God, and every decision You make is perfect. Yet I still have to say I don’t understand this, and I might even go so far as to say I’m a little angry about this .... yet, Father, not my will but Thine be done” ... when I can say this, I know that I am choosing to submit not to my own intelligence and opinions but to the Intelligent Designer’s. I’m not saying that if we agree with God then we aren’t being truthful ... I’m just saying if we agree with everything God has said, it might be a clue or a red flag. God has said, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9) ... and: “I know, O LORD, that man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man to direct his own steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23)

So, am I trying to direct my own steps? Are you? 

Jesus said, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” (John 12:48)