What Do You Think?

Where is God when I need Him? Ever asked that question? A better question and a more revealing question is this. How often do I think I need him? Most people would answer that question theoretically with "I need thee every hour." That sounds good, unfortunately in the practical everyday stuff of life it it doesn't always ring true. When it comes right down to it, our attitudes are often more like the Church at Laodicea in Revelation "for you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing." I came across this quote in my reading recently that really made me think...

"If we think we are usually good, then God is usually irrelevant" Edward T. Welch "When People are Big and God is Small"

What a tragic thought - that I could live my life in such a way that my creator, the one who gives me breath, my Savior the one who died for my sin, the one who rose from the dead and calls me to walk in newness of life, the one who came to give me life more abundantly, the one who now lives within me - that I could live my life in such a way that Jesus Christ becomes irrelevant shows the deceitfulness of sin and depravity of the human heart. The scary thing is that it can happen even though we still go to church and talk about Jesus. Our hearts and minds get taken captive by the feel good rhetoric of our culture and we buy into what pop psychology says about man (that he is basically or usually good) and consequently render irrelevant the Cross and the scriptures as far as dealing with mans real problems. Heaven and Hell, sin and repentance, grace and forgiveness are seen as out of date and irrelevant to our new way of thinking and acting.

How can God become usually irrelevant in our lives? I mean, we go to church we have several bibles in our homes, how does this happen? It is a very deceitful thing.

• If we think we are usually good - The cross of Christ (the Gospel) is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually good - Hell is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually good - God's forgiveness is usually irrelevant
  
• If we think we are usually good - God's law is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually right - God's Word is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually strong - God's strength is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually clever - God's wisdom is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually safe - God's protection is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually free - God's deliverance is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually lovable - God's grace is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually in control - God's sovereignty is usually irrelevant
• If we think we are usually in need of nothing - God's throne of grace is usually irrelevant

Irrelevant means - God doesn't matter, God is of no consequence, God carries no weight in our decision making, God serves no purpose, I don't need God. Before we know it we have a "form of godliness" but deny the power needed to make us truly godly. I believe churches are filled with people like this. It is hard to get people excited about someone who is thought to be irrelevant to their lives. As we see in the church at Laodicea God will not tolerate being relegated to a place of irrelevance in His church or in the lives of His people.

The reality is there is no one we need more than God. We need to be saved from our sin, we need cleansing everyday from sin and we find it at the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross humbles, us, cleanses us from every sin, it becomes our joy, our boasting, our Life. "For me to live, Paul says , Is Christ." We are weak but His strength is made perfect in our weakness, His wisdom keeps us from stumbling and keeps us safe, His word is true, sufficient and powerful. When my life is spinning out of control, God is still in control. Our neediness manifests itself in our prayerfulness. Therefore pray without ceasing.
If I believe that in me dwells no good thing, If I believe that God's kingdom rules over all, If I believe that God loves me sent his Son to die in my place on the cross, If I believe that one Day Christ is coming back to this earth, If believe that one day I am going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, then God is always relevant. What we really believe becomes evident and relevant in the everyday stuff of life. What do you believe?

"If we think we are usually good, then God is usually irrelevant"

2 Corinthians 10:4- 6 "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete."

Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."