“Engage God”
Have you ever encountered difficulty with different groups? Perhaps a boss, friends ,family members dealing with political polarization or an intuitional policy. What about working on a home association board it can be challenging as well in your life.
You see lately these things have tainted my reaction to God’s unlimited power. As the music plays, I hear my Christian voice say, “I’m I putting God first” or am I “making sure God has first place in your/my life.” Such expressions of the mind are used so often they run the risk of becoming a Christian cliché. But there’s nothing trite about the idea of putting God first; in fact, it’s thoroughly biblical.
Everyone has priorities. We arrange our schedules, budgets, and relationships according to perceived importance. Putting God first means we give Him top priority over everything else. He is the principal figure in our lives and central to all we do and think. When we choose to put God first, we determine that He is more important than any other person or preoccupation. His Word is more valuable than any other message, and His will is weightier than any other imperative.
When we learn that God’s control is absolute, our first inclination might be to resist Him. God’s perfect and complete authority is vastly different than the imperfect and delegated human authority we experience. A proper understanding of God’s nature helps us understand how He exercises authority. God is gracious and good. He delights to save people from destruction and distress. He sent His own Son into the world to do that . So why don’t we have a proper submission to God’s authority and why aren’t we “transformed by the renewing of the mind”?
To understand and submit to God’s unlimited authority as we find a safe place to rest and thrive, we need to, “study his word” often and engage the gospel as you gain that wonder which leads us into a fullness of life.
The study of God, which is “theology” being simply an attempt to understand God as He is revealed in the Bible. No doctrine will ever fully explain God and His ways because God is infinitely and eternally higher than we are. Therefore, any attempt to describe Him will fall short Romans 11:33-36. However, God does want us to know Him insofar as we are able, and holiness is the art and science of knowing what we can know and understand about God in an organized and understandable manner. Some people try to avoid dogma because they believe it is divisive. Properly understood, though, it is uniting. Proper, biblical religious study is a good thing; it is the teaching of God’s Word 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
All Christians should be consumed with digging into God’s Word. But are they? You see the intense, personal study of God needs you to know, love, and obey the One with whom we will joyfully spend eternity. As a believer in Jesus Christ sometimes I wonder do we fully understand the words, “simply in the world”? Simply, it means a physically presents but not of it and not part of its values. We are not to engage in the activities of the world that promote bad intentions or insipid, a corrupt mind that the world creates. So why do we sometimes retain our selves, stuff and our minds above that of Jesus Christ?
I do not want to live, think and act like those who do not know Christ but sometimes , I want to have the final say and not live up to being checked as a fallibilist. Is that Pride?
I often listen to conversations about the lack of engagement in the study of theology or the word, saying,” I haven’t been digging into God’s Word to discover what He has revealed about Himself for Months”. Ah, Life is hard. It is harder for some than for others, but we all must cope with being imperfect people in an imperfect world. Then I’m reminded, “How’s Jesus messing with me”? You see even Jesus agreed that life is hard, but he didn’t stop there. He said, “In this world you will have trouble . But take heart! I have overcome the world”. John 16:33
As we travel on this journey to get to know God in order that we may glorify Him through our love and obedience. We understand that Life was never supposed to be hard. Because when he created the world and placed the first man and woman in its life was perfect. Then Sin entered, perfection was marred, and life became so hard. As a result of humanity’s disobedience, God cursed the perfect world he had made. It ruined everything now” the whole creation groans”, and we groan with it .
But remember even though Life is hard, Christ is our advocate our intercessor who pleads our case to the Father. He knows what it feels like to struggle through difficulty, and the host of human situations that make life so hard. Life is hard, but the Holy Spirit is our comforter who helps us and stays with us forever as we are reminded that this world is not our final destination.
Let us endure, engage, grow, learn faith, develop compassion for others who are struggling, and wait for our final reward, at that time, we will hear our Savior say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord” . Matthew 25:21
To study theology is to get to know God in order that we may glorify Him through our love and obedience. Notice the progression here: we must get to know Him before we can love Him, and we must love Him before we can desire to obey Him. As a byproduct, our lives are immeasurably enriched by the comfort and hope He imparts to those who know, love, and obey Him.
Poor theology and a superficial, inaccurate understanding of God will only make our lives worse instead of bringing the comfort and hope we long for. Knowing about God is crucially important. We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about God. The world is a painful place, and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant.
Those who put God first will stand out from the rest of the world. They will obey God’s commands (John 14:15) they will take up their cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23), and they will not forsake their first love (Revelation 2:4). They give God the first fruits, not the leftovers. The Christian life is characterized by moment-to-moment selfless service to God that flows from love for Him and His people. In all things, the believer trusts, obeys, and loves God above all else. Putting God first becomes easier when we take to heart the words of Romans 11: “Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen”
God Bless You and This Ministry!
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