A story is given of a wealthy and jovial slave owner in an old town in Ohio who generously gave to the church, was involved in many social activities in the community and a lot of philanthropic work. The gentleman was very good friends with his pastor from the local church. They enjoyed a good game together from time to time, attended a few charity soirrées and occasionally, dinner with plenty of delicacies alongside the wealthy folks of this community. One morning on a hot summer day, the wealthy man had an ailment that worsened as days went by. His wife, who was a believer, concerned by the imminent death coming upon her husband, asked if she could call their pastor friend to pray for him before he passed. This man’s answer particularly marked me:
‘No my dear. He is not the man for me to see now. He was my companion, as you know in worldly sports and pleasure seeking activities; he loved good dinners and a jolly time. I then enjoyed his society and found him a pleasant companion. But I see now that I never had any confidence in his piety, and have now no confidence in the efficacy of his prayers. I am now a dying man, and need the instruction and prayers of somebody who can prevail with God. We have been together much, but our pastor has never been earnest with me about the salvation of my soul, and he is not the man to help me now.’
A Question of Morality
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ESV
The body of Christ today has involved itself more in the business of amusement than it has ever been recorded in the history of the church before. There is always a new activity that consists of entertainment in order to keep church ‘fun’, keep the youth engaged, to increase numbers, or make the worship set more upbeat, trendy and so on. Allow me to break down the subtle moral decay of the heart that should pursue Christ, and even more dangerously, in the place where it should receive life – there does it receive death of the soul ().
The story above is a rude awakening of the reality that many in the body of Christ only come to realize when it is either too late or even more dangerous, when they have hardened their hearts towards God and towards His revealed will in scripture. Presently, many ministers and believers are probed to think that they will reveal Christ more to the non-believer by mingling with them in their pleasures or search for continuous amusements. It is imperative that the church begins to emphasize the importance of conduct that brings no reproach to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the book of, the Lord tells his prophet that He will seek Him and find Him if he seeks Him with ALL HIS HEART. The implication of seeking with one’s whole heart is the ultimate ingredient to a life of continuous exercise into holiness, and eventually perfection of the saint by the cleansing Christ brings
Simply put, faith is supposed to cause us to fully and completely rely on Christ to enable us to will and to do anything that He requires of us. The Christian was never supposed to depend on his own works in order to receive the cleansing and continuous transformation of the mind. The consecration of the believer breeds an understanding that nothing can be done for his soul if he does not fully rely on the work of the Spirit at work in him to purify and transform him. The scriptures tell us that we have the mind of Christ therefore the spiritual life in any man can only be directly received from the spirit of Christ by Faith. Anything contrary to this is absurd.
A man whose morality therefore is truly fixed on Christ and solely concerned with pleasing him above any other thing or person, should find it no trouble to weigh every action, word, decision and involvement by its capacity to display glory and honor to his God. Some may call it uptightness, being extreme and even in some cases puritan. Others consider it robbery but really to who? Many professed Christians even declare this impracticable, but to the person who truly loves God above all else and their neighbor as themselves, this should be no trouble.
One of the greatest books on revival that I have read puts it gently this way:
‘Christians should live so far above the world as not to need or seek its pleasures, and thus recommend religion to the world as a source of the highest and purest happiness. The peaceful look, the joyful countenance, the spiritual serenity and the cheerfulness of a living Christian should recommend religion to the non-believer. The Christian’s satisfaction in God, his holy joy and shunning of worldly minds and amusements should impress the unconverted with a sense of necessity and desirableness of a Christian life. Let no man think that he will gain a really christian influence by manifesting a sympathy with his worldly aspirations.’
As the illustrated example, the very non-believer on his dying bed discredited the credibility of his own pastor based on the amount of time they spent together enjoying worldly amusement and consequently (although unconsciously) disinterested him in the very message he preached. Instead of his pastor, he told his wife that his coachman and one of his slaves had struck him as a pious man. He confessed to having heard him make ‘sincere prayers’ behind the stables, as he worked the fields and to truly live out what he believed.
He continued saying that even when he himself knew to be giving his slaves a hard time, this particular slave never acted opposite to his faith. Such is the real life illustration of the parables Jesus alluded to as He spoke of the first being last the least in the Kingdom of God being greater than John the Baptist Your life is the true testimony for the unconverted that you should desperately desire to see repent and come to Christ.
Sticking To God
You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. NKJV
It is possible to feel as though one is missing out on something considering how fast paced the world is moving today. The prophet Isaiah however, shines a light on a truth that defeats every ounce of this mentality or sensation of ‘missing out’. The word perfect peace as used in our theme scripture is actually a repetition of the Hebrew word ‘shalom shalom’ or ‘peace peace’. In this holy dialect, a repetition of a promise twice makes it a solid and an unchangeable truth to the one being told. The things that are continuously in your gaze, and the thoughts that occupy your mind, reveal what your mind is staying on and likewise demonstrates the degree of your peace and stillness in the face of all the enticing things before you.
Naturally, one of the most satisfactory things is to please the people we love and hold dear to heart. If a believer truly loves God with all his heart, his life should be defined by a desire to constantly and consistently please Him above every amusement, lusting, or pleasure and find it joyful to do so, for his love is primarily and supremely to God above all else. In doing so, the believer experiences joy and satisfaction because he fulfilled his goal which is to please the One whom he loves most. Perfect peace is complete peace, and therefore cannot make any room for a sensation of supposedly needing to borrow amusement from the world. All else, weighed in this light should and will be found wanting if truly you are seeking to please God above all else.
Be Holy
“Be holy, for I am holy.” NKJV
Child of God, holiness is not merely keeping a set of unattainable rules as religion continues to portray it and discouraging the active participation of the believer to seek after it. On the contrary, being holy like our God, is a consistent and conscious decision to be set apart in how you love God and His people. It is living in reverent awe of the Spirit of Christ which our bodies house and are temples of. It is understanding the daily commitment to walk in piety, righteousness, love of God and of fellow men and lovingly trust Christ through faith to enable us to attain this holiness.
The disconnect occurs when the believer begins to think that their action and strife to attain it is what makes it possible but instead it breeds morally disappointed Christians that earnestly believe the walk of faith is the hardest decision they have ever made, and which they painfully must journey through for a promise of eternal life as distant as the heavens are from the earth.
Christ says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The journey of faith should be nothing less but all the more. The contrary should draw you, child of God to search yourself if truly the yoke you bear is Christ’s.
If you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, and you feel that this is the perfect time, pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I thank you because you died for my sins and you were raised for my glory. Today, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I am born again. Amen.”
