Evidence of Who is Most Important to YOU
It is possible for people to become so accustomed to their bondage that they resist efforts to free them. The Hebrews had been slaves in Egypt for four hundred years. Slavery meant that they were not free to do God's will or to go where they wanted. Moses had come to tell the Israelites how they could experience freedom, yet they were more concerned about the reaction of their taskmasters than they were about pleasing God. For them to be free would mean that the pharaoh they were serving would be angry! It would mean that the Egyptians they had served all their lives might attack them. Freedom from their slavery did not seem to be worth the hardships they would inevitably endure. When God sets out to free us, there will often be a price we will have to pay. Grief can be a terrible form of bondage, yet we can become comfortable with it. We can grow so comfortable with fear that we don’t know how to live without it. As destructive as our sinful habits and lifestyle might be, we may prefer living with the familiar, rather than being freed to experience the unknown. We may recognize the harmful influence of a friend but choose to reject God's will rather than offend our friend. As incredible as it seems, the Israelites were angry at Moses for disrupting the life of slavery to which they had grown accustomed. Have you been lulled into a comfortable relationship with your bondage? Do you fear change more than you fear God? Are you willing to allow God to do what is necessary in order to free you? - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day
He asks some very pointed, very different, very direct questions today. Are you prepared to really answer them?
Read this:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 NASB
Is there evidence to convict you of your desires to serve Jesus Christ? Is there proof that could be proclaimed that says anything to show your life is safe with God?
Merely claiming to be saved without the proof is what today's people call 'identifying as'. Matters not what you identify as if there's no truth based in the Spirit of God then my Dear Reader you are NOT saved. You can't go around convincing yourself and others that you are a Christian if you don't live it behind closed doors. You cannot hold onto your lusts of the flesh, your strong willed pride, your desires to please yourself and yet claim to be a child of God. If indeed you are saved then you, my Friend are living in sin.
You shouldn't judge! You may cry out at me. First, as GOD directs, I write. Your problem is with God, not me. Secondly you must feel a sense of guilt if the subject is too close to home. Scripture says you cannot serve two masters. You can't embrace the world and God. Jesus says to be a friend of the world is to be against Him.
You indeed are a slave to someone. Either Christ or your sin nature. You who have not decided to receive Salvation must consider those questions Blackaby asks.
Is familiarity with your sin keeping you from letting go of it?
For believers are you keeping idols for yourself all the while proclaiming you are saved in Christ?
One of the most horrific things that I ever witnessed in a Church service was the back-to-back worship of an idol with worshipping God. The worship of a university in song, then to sing of wanting the heavens to open up to see Jesus.
In a university city I see a lot of idolatry. Christian people who WILL wear the symbols of that university yet will NOT wear what might be referred to as 'witness wear' as I was told yesterday that it's called. Much worse is to wear both.
I had two men, who claimed that they were Christians tell me they would pray for me, because I refused to join in their idol worship of that university. Call it what it is people! They would get far more enraged over the slighting of that university than someone saying something negative about God or the Bible. THAT IS EVIDENCE of who you worship!
That is but 1 example. I used to collect science fiction memorabilia. Then I became convicted of that very thing of idol worship. I used to wear branded clothing about those items and the same conviction came. Who do you serve?
Scripture says my life is not my own, I was bought with a price. The precious blood of Jesus Christ. He took my place on calvary. He stepped in front of me when the sentence of guilty was proclaimed against me. He replaced me when it came time to be nailed to a cross and pay for my sin. He did all of that knowing that I could never repay. His love always has been that great!
You must decide who you want to be most important in your life. You or Jesus. What fruit do you see? What do others see? Jesus called us to be fruit inspectors. Jesus said you will, not you might, not maybe, you WILL know people by their fruits as whether or not they follow Christ.
You must choose which Master you will serve. You must be sensitive to the Spirit of God when He tells you of what parts of your life must go in order to serve Jesus. You must be willing to go where He leads.
You. Our choices are not difficult, but our sin nature makes them painful. We want a lot of what the world has to offer. We want peace, money, health. But at what cost? The Children of Israel had all those things under Pharaoh, but it meant worship of Pharaoh. Their lives became difficult when they had learned they needed to turn back to worship God. God promised they would really find all those things and more if they would return to Him.
The same applies to all who are saved and not saved yet. We can't know or understand what the everything that God has in mind for us above what this world offers until we choose to go all-in with Him.
Be real with yourself. What evidence do you really see?
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