It’s not what we want to hear – that the Lord blesses and curses. We just want the good parts of the Bible to apply to us and reject the rest. Our generation of Christians is pampered compared to previous ones. We want things the easy way; we want our faith to be unfettered by commandments, demands, and curses from the Lord. We want God to accept us and never want Him to change us, before we will accept Him. We want to make God into our personal assistant, dumping our burdens on Him, and fully expecting Him to bail us out. Instead of revering the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, we want the genie from Aladdin’s lamp. In other words, we want to be in control of every part of our lives.
It doesn’t work that way and never has. We fool ourselves everyday if we think that God doesn’t judge our deeds. And if we turn off just because we read in the Bible something we don’t want to see, or hear from the preacher words we don’t want to accept, then we’ve become the biggest fools in all the centuries of Christendom.
I see people playing with their faith instead of practicing it. I watch folks indulge themselves at this time of year, instead of giving thanks and being grateful to God. I look at our depraved society and it sickens my heart, not because I’m better than anyone else, but because I’m part of the disease itself.
I want to tell people about Jesus and how stern He could be at times, but people don’t want to hear it. I want to preach a Gospel that demands an unconditional surrender to God, but people don’t want to do that. I want to shake up the whole of our civilization and shout out: “Don’t you realize we’re all going to Hell in a hand barrow?” but nobody wants to listen to that kind of Holy Roller talk anymore. We just want to be happy and have a good time. We just want to say to God on Judgment Day, what happens on Earth, stays on Earth.
I won’t play this game anymore because I love the people around me. I won’t dance with the devil any longer in order to keep the peace. I’ll do what the Lord calls me to do – to prepare people for His Coming and to help them get ready for judgment. To do anything less is to disobey God. To do anything other is to come under His curse.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we don’t want to think about judgment or accept Your non-compromising Gospel. We want to be happy, not harassed by You. We want to feel good, not to face God. We want to get to heaven, but none of us wants to die to our sins. O Lord, help us and save us; rebuke us and restore us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
2 comments:
I am Ann in Dallas Texas and read your devotionals daily. I share these with friends and have an on line discussion with some about your pieces. Your devotionals are always thought provoking and sometimes challenging for me and my friends.
I totally agree with you. Faith is not to be played with and is always a "total commitment" thing. The sad fact is that not many believers understand this and only want to see faith as something that will meet their needs.
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