The guy on the podcast I was listening to said that the world is watching to see if a believer’s conduct lines up with their confession of faith. And we know that’s true. There are watchers of people of faith. Who knows if they’re intentionally or unintentionally watching anyone who calls themselves a believer, but some notice when a Christian is in or out of line with what they say they believe. But we also have to know that God himself knows all about us. All the good and the bad and the ugly. He knows it all. He sees it all.
Justin Martyr, a Christian apologist from AD155 said that it is for us Christians to offer to all the opportunity of inspecting our life and teachings. That means we can’t rely on our own understanding, but we must trust in the Lord. We aren’t reliable when left to our own devices. We’re easily swayed by the ideas and opinions of others who seem confident in their own beliefs. We can be easily misguided if we’re not careful of who we’re following or listening to. Whether it’s the pastor of the latest megachurch. Or the best selling author. Or the most downloaded podcaster. Or the slickest politician. Or the newest spiritual fad. We can’t just trust every word we hear from those we listen to. We must do our own study and research. And most importantly, we must study to show ourselves approved when it comes to living out our faith.
Oh sure. Others will be watching to see how we live out our faith. But our Heavenly Father is watching always and forever. We can’t escape his eye or his knowledge of our ways. So, more importantly than doing the “right thing” for others to see, we must most importantly do the “biblical thing” as God directs us. And in order for us to know the biblical thing to do, we must read the Bible. We must study God’s word so we know exactly what God requires of us.
I recently read that, as believers, we shouldn’t have to ask God to guide us because He is automatically guiding those who have put their faith in him. But we must know the truths that he has put in place for his followers. We must be prepared to act on the trust we say we have in Him when push comes to shove. We can’t depend on our own understanding, our own interpretation of right and wrong, when we’re in the fire. We can be wishy washy. Untrustworthy. Unless our complete trust is in God, we may lean on our own misguided ideas.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6
The question is. Do we really trust Jesus? As believers, do we put our entire trust in Him for every aspect of our lives? If not, what are we holding onto for our own personal purposes? What part of our lives do we trust ourselves with more than we trust God? Are our ways higher than God’s ways? The Bible would say definitely not. So, why do we think we know better than God?
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
We’ve heard the famous saying “come as you are” when we come to Jesus. We’re told we don’t have to pretty up our behavior. We can come to Him asking for forgiveness with all the ugliness and awfulness of our lives in tow. But does Jesus really say that in the Bible? Actually, there’s no Bible verse that says those specific words, but Jesus does accept us as we are when we come to him in genuine repentance. We don’t have to change before we seek his forgiveness. But the thing is. We can’t stay as we are. We must change after we have asked him to forgive our sins. If we say that Jesus is Lord of our lives, then we must live as if what we said was true. We must live in accordance with our repentance and confession of faith. Otherwise, we are lying not only to ourselves but to the world and to God himself.
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23
So. If we say Jesus is Lord of our lives, then we have to trust Him. Oh. It’s a daily dying to ourselves and laying down our faith in ourselves. We must daily hand over our own desires and leanings to Jesus Christ. We must allow our will to be bent to line up with the teachings of our Savior. We aren’t better than Him. As ones who say we have bowed our wills to Him, we must then bow daily to His will. We must honor him not only with our lips, but also with our hearts and actions. How can we say we follow our Lord and Savior if we neglect His teachings and corrections? How can we say we’re His followers if we continually disobey and dishonor Him? Who do we think we are?
And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. Isaiah 29:13
Mercy for the Day 