Walking the Walk

So while at work the other day I was moving some books onto a cart to get them ready to be shelved. While doing this I spotted a book about writing your own Christian wedding vows. Now this book caught my attention because lately a lot of people I know have either gotten engaged or are about to be married and whenever something is that prevalent in my life I tend to notice things that have to do with it. So I picked this book up and began to flip through it. The first thing I noticed was that someone had gone and filled their the blank lines provided for answers to the many questions in the book. At first I was irritated that someone had written in the book but then I decided to take a closer look at the answers, because truthfully I’m a sucker for romance and I was hoping for an interesting first meeting story.

Well the first meeting story was interesting, just not in the way I’d hoped. The woman who had written in the book described her first meeting as being wonderful, that he was funny, kind, and made great love. That last part stopped me in my tracks, wasn't this book suppose to be the complete Christian vow book? What happened to no sex before marriage? I looked through other passages in the book and sure enough they were filled with sexual reasons for loving him. I closed the book disappointed but then a thought struck me. What other things in our lives do we ‘cheat on’ like this? Which teachings of Jesus do we choose not to follow even though it’s obvious we should? And what affect does this have on both God’s image of us and the world’s image of God’s children?

The bible tells us that we are to be salt and light to this world. Jesus says in Matthew 5:13-14 “¹³ You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. ¹⁴ You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” So we are to be the flavoring of this world and a light to its people. Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 5:16, “¹⁶ Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” We are suppose to follow His laws and do His works so that others may see the glory of God and come to know Him. In doing so they will in turn glorify the Lord. If we don’t do this then we are setting a bad example for others.

Christians are a walking example of our faith to others and people often only meet lukewarm Christians or people who profess to be believers but actually aren’t. These meetings turn people off of Jesus, because they see people who say they love God but then turn around and cuss out the lady in front of them in line at the supermarket. People who are not living for Jesus but say they are a follower of Him are making it harder for the word to go out. So what can we do to fix this? Well it’s simple, we need to start walking the walk as well as talking the talk. We need to get real in our walk with Jesus.

Christians need to let go of the idea that because God loves us and has forgiven our sins that its ok to sin. It is not and will never be ok to sin. God’s grace is much like a safety net there to catch us when we fall but it shouldn’t be abused. God forgives those with a repentive heart. He is not pleased with a, ‘Opps I’m really sorry God that I had sex with my neighbor last night’ then that person goes and does it again the next night, kind of heart. Luke 13:5 Jesus says, “I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" You might initially think dang that’s harsh, but it’s not really, Romans 12:2 tells us, “ ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If you love God and follow Him as a true believer then you’re naturally going to begin to change and have a repentive heart. If we are following God then we will turn away from the things of this world in pursuit of Godly things.

This thought process gets us into a lot of trouble, not only does it hurt our viewpoint with the world but it leads us away from Godly things and opens more doors in our life for us to walk away from God altogether. Someone who is constantly going out and sinning without repenting is wrong. Now I’m not saying that just because you repeat a sin your going to Hell. There is a difference between people who are struggling with a particular problem and people who are doing something just because they feel they can. We are not perfect and we will make mistakes in life but that doesn’t give us an excuse to kill someone.

The bible says that all sin is equal in God’s eyes. In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus says: 

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

He tells us right here that none of these sins are greater than the other, so why in the world would we think that a little white lie won’t hurt? Or that taking a candy bar from a grocery store is ok because it only costs a dollar. Or that it is ok to look at soft porn because it’s not as bad as hard porn. See how even my examples seemed to escalate? Allowing ourselves one ‘small’ sin will only lead to worse ones in the future. Where do we get these thought processes and how have we as Christians let ourselves be convinced that a little sin here and there won’t hurt anyone? We need to start making an effort to chase after God and not the things of this world. The more we seek after God the more things will begin to fall into place in our lives and the easier it will be to keep ourselves from repeating the same mistakes over and over.

So at work the other day I hadn't gotten a wonderful love story but I had gotten something better, a revelation from God on the importance of walking the walk and talking the talk. Begin to start living real for God by following His commandments. Remember that yes God loves us but no its not ok to sin. And finally know that we are all examples for Christ so what kind of example are you going to set for others to see? Try it and find out I dare you.

More Verses to Consider:

Mark 9:50

James 4:8

James 2:10-11

The Importance of Waiting

Waiting has been the theme for a few of my friends and myself for the past few weeks. Waiting on timing, waiting on confirmation, and waiting on the Lord to move. And I’ve been wondering why we’ve had to do so much waiting. I know and believe that God is good to His word and that He can do all things so why the need for patience? Today while in prayer the answer came to me.

When we wait upon the Lord He builds up our faith in Him. That’s something we’ve always been taught. But there is another reason He asks us to wait. Many times if He answered our request and prayers immediately we wouldn’t have the same trust in Him that we do after we wait. Waiting is hard, take it from someone who’s had some experience. God puts us through this trial not because He wants to see us worry and fret but because He wants to build trust in Him. If we cannot wait on Him and trust in His timing then how can we lean on Him in harder times?

For example if you are waiting for God to bless you with say a boyfriend and you jump the gun what have you just done? First of all you haven’t waited on His timing and secondly, if it wasn’t from Him then how can you expect God to bless that relationship? Where does your trust come from when you and your new boyfriend are having a fight? Will you have the kind of faith in God to know that its all going to work out? Probably not. But if you wait on God and on His timing then He will be in the relationship and when you have that fight and it looks like its not going to work then you can look back on the time you waited for God to put you and “Bobby” together and in that your faith and trust will be uplifted because God had you wait for this, and He’s not going to let the relationship fail because of a little fight.

The same goes for anything God is having you wait on. He’s doing it to not only build up your faith but give you a source of confirmation for the future. He’s using that time of waiting to say, “Look you waited on me and I blessed you for it, do you think that I’d take it away so easily?” Have trust in the Lord and wait on Him. The bible says in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Not only is this verse awesome in this context but if you look at the verses that precede it in Isaiah it is talking about how awesome God is and how He will not ever grow faint or weary and that nothing can be compared to Him. This is telling us how awesome and amazing our God is, and if He is like that then look at what He will do for us when we wait for Him, He will raise us up and strengthen us. So don’t worry about His timing take peace in it and wait for Him to prepare your heart for what He is doing.

David says in Psalm 40: 1-4,“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth- Praise to out God; Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud not such as turn aside to lies.”

God rewards those who wait and trust in Him. How much better will your relationship, your dream, your desire, and you need be after waiting on the Lord? Lamentations 3:25 tells us, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;” Why do you think He is having you wait? Maybe He is preparing your heart or the hearts of those you will interact with. But whatever the personal reason is I also believe that He is doing it to build up a trust and faith in Him that only comes from waiting for His timing. Wait on the Lord and put your trust in Him for whatever problem you are going through and He will take care of it. I dare you.

More verses to consider:

Psalm 130:5-6

James 5:11

Psalm 25:4-5

Galatians 6:9

Proverbs 3:5-6

Psalm 62:5-8

Romans 5:3-4

Hebrews 6:15

2 Corinthians 6:4-5

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

James 1:12

Psalm 27:14