Even Demons “believe in” Jesus. Do we trust him? Do we love him more than anything else? Are we committed to him and willing to trust him enough to obey him in all things even though he’s forgiven our past disobedience and will always do it again if we’re truly sorry?
Do we let Jesus be who he is, or do we re-shape him and his word into our image and make him/it approve of or be indifferent to our favorite sins and make him/it advocate our worldly philosophies? Are we transforming the Bible and Jesus rather than letting him transform us by the renewing of our minds?
Are we willing to count as dung and worldly foolishness any ideas that puff us up for how intellectual we are while distorting our understanding of Biblical truth? Will we have the courage to humbly accept the mockery and derision of the scoffers who profess themselves to be wise, for the sake of truly knowing Christ? Are we willing to follow Christ no matter the cost?
Please understand these questions are not intended as judgment of anyone’s salvation. They’re offered for all of us, myself included, to privately examine ourselves before God, confess any “wrong” answers honestly, and ask God to purify our hearts and strengthen us to do right. May the Lord speak to each of us and show us any idols he wants us to surrender today.
Note, I penned the first draft of the above words in 2011, long before the 2016 election was on anyone’s minds. We have cause to be concerned with the conduct of our political leaders, but the greatest concern to me is the Church’s conduct. I hear many asking, “what do words matter? Aren’t actions of most importance?” Christ made it clear, in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, that what is of most importance is our hearts’ condition. Our words can reveal what’s in our hearts just as well as our actions can.
Again, I am not here to address politicians’ conduct and who American Christians vote for. The latter is a matter of personal conviction between us and God. What I wish to address here is all the disrespectful, prideful, unloving, unkind, condemning words I’ve seen hurled like knives amongst ourselves. All the brothers and sisters in Christ taking defensive postures and fighting amongst ourselves as if the future of the entire world depends on how American Christians vote, as if the Father and King Jesus will be rendered powerless to work all things together for our good unless we all agree upon a corrupt, dangerous politician to hand power to in order to stop the other one. Let’s all step back and humbly examine our own hearts.
If you pose the above questions to the Lord, about yourself, and sincerely seek God to reveal your heart, I have no idea what God might have to say to you, in the manners of speaking to us that you happen to believe God still uses today. I simply pray our hearts would all be open to hear whatever the Lord has for us, that we would repent, turn from whatever sins God’s calling us out of by the grace and power of God.
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