Is it just me or have Christians (in the U.S.) been living a lie? What I mean is have Christians been living their lives knowing the truth, but somehow living inside of a lie? Is there a disconnect from what we say we believe about the gospel and what we actually live out and expect from ourselves and those around us.
Christ came so that we could have a personal relationship with Him, the God of the universe. Up until his death and resurrection people had to make sacrifices with the help of a priest. They did not have the freedom to go before God themselves, but rather had to depend on the priest for their communication with God, but we can go directly before the God of the universe! In the Old Testament and before Pentecost (in the New Testament) the Holy Spirit did not dwell in the lives of all believers, so God would send the Holy Spirit to His chosen leader, instruct this one person, and then He would speak to His people through this one person. Since all believers have the Holy Spirit, God can and wants to speak to all believers, not just His select few! So this is where the disconnect happens, if Christ created a way for His church/body/believers to approach Him personally with our concerns, problems, needs and desires, then why do we seek out his ‘Priests’ when it comes time to hear from Him?
In Church
Why is it that we allow ourselves and look for a place where ‘church leadership’ hears from God instead of looking for a body of believers that together wants to hear and follow His voice? Dr Henry Balckaby says in Experiencing God, “Because a church is the body of Christ, it functions best when spiritual leaders and members share what they sense God wants the church to be and do. A church needs to hear the whole counsel of God through its spiritual leaders and members. Then it can proceed in confidence and unity to do God’s will.”
Why do we seek a place were we can go to ‘learn more about Him and what He has to say to us’ trusting that whoever is leading/preaching the Sunday service is being led by God instead of trusting God to speak directly to us and believing that sometimes He will choose to speak through other people? Do we really go to church on Sunday expecting God to speak to us through the Holy Spirit, Bible, prayer, circumstances and other believers, not just the person who is preaching that day? Do we go expecting that God may speak through us? Why not?
Why do we seek a place where we are told that we must take certain steps or do certain things so that we can grow in our walk with God or so that God can move in the lives around us instead of asking God to teach us and asking Him where or in whose lives He is working so that we can join Him in what He is already doing? Isn’t that what the Pharisees did in the days of Christ? They set up rules and regulations for the good of the people who they were sheparding in hopes that the people would become better by observing all that was expected of them.
Why do we place more importance on organized religion ‘Church or other programs’ instead of first focusing on our personal and direct relationship with God? I must admit that it is much easier to trust in a program than in God! All too often I find myself wanting to do that ‘good’ thing for God instead of trusting Him to do good things through me. When it is all said and done, I find it much easier to trust myself than Him who made me!
In My Personal Life
How many days do I get up and interact with my family, go to work, do good things, attend church or organizational leadership meeting, and then come back home to spend a few minuets before bed time just to realize that my whole day was self focused! I mean God gave me a brain so that I could gain knowledge and then help others with their problems and find solutions to world evangelism without His direct guidance. Come on, He was involved in my day because I prayed in the morning, asked him to guide my day, used the knowledge He gave me over the course of my life. Don’t you see how I am letting him guide my every step?
I find it sick to see how easily I rationalize my lack of trust, faith, and guidance from the Creator of the universe! God help me to change! How can I expect God to work and do only what He can do when I am in running strait ahead, not even giving a second thought to what He might want to say to me about each task. Do I really believe that He is able to guide and direct me?
I so want to live a life where I am in constant communication with Him, where I sense his leading every step of the way, where I am walking with others who are doing the same. Is it just me or are we all believing a clever lie of the evil one?
Part of the Answer
We have everything we need to walk a different life! To walk a life that is so connected to Him that others could not miss that we are in Him. Imagine what a community of believers would look like if everyone in that community was consistently walking with God each minuet of every day! What kind of impact would we have in our world if we would only stop believing these lies.
There are a few things our Christian culture currently does not have:
1. A personal and vibrant prayer life where EVERY circumstance is placed before Him and He is invited into EVERY aspect of out day!
2. The idea that God desires to speak to each of us individually instead of the view that it all happens inside the church walls. The ‘priests’ can help, but we have direct access to a God who wants to desperately speak to us.
3. The expectation that where there are believers gathered, growth can happen and will happen when Christ is kept in the center.
4 .The view that God doesn’t need more people to do good things for Him, but he needs more people who are in tuned in with what He is doing so that we can join Him there!
