As a follow up to my last post, I found it to be very timely and applicable to our recent journey into the “Believing God” study put out by Beth Moore. Coming to know Christ as my savior at the ripe age of five, I have found myself on many occasion during my journey asking whether I truly believe God is who I say He is. Truth be told, rarely did my actions exemplify what I would have proclaimed my belief to be. To know and understand God’s holiness is one thing, but the personal application and or belief, well, that is whole other ball game. Frankly speaking, I believe that within the refuge of Christianity and church, we as men have a crisis of belief that is lived out in our actions or lack thereof and decision on a daily basis. But then is it fair to assume that our belief should be measured by our actions? I am afraid so.Why is it that we are seeing a rising trend in middle aged men 30-40 enlisting in the military to fight the war in Iraq? It no doubt has everything to do with that stirring spirit of expectation, the expectation of being apart of something bigger than ourselves. It is that call of significance and of a life of meaning that is desired, but it must first start with belief a belief in the liberties and freedom that are granted to us as Americans. It is a transcendent belief that leads one to lay down his life in sacrifice for what he believes in.
So I ask you “Do you have that kind of belief in God”?
Reality says that belief is derived from knowledge or knowing. And so we find ourselves in a virtual paradox of balancing knowledge and faith in determining our belief. In a recent study of Nehemiah, it was said “we should know the personality of God so well that anytime anything is said in reference to Him it should resonate with us as to whether that is characteristic of who God is through scripture”. For me to truly believe God is who I say He is I must know Him like that.
To this I will submit the following: Knowledge and experience foster our belief, our belief will reveal our love, and our love requires action. Translated: For one to believe in God he must know who and what He is through His word and His moving in our lives. Within that knowledge and experience a deep and intimate love can be fostered for our Savior, and it is that commitment of love that will require daily action for which we will not hesitate, because we truly believe.
When we believe we speak truth. When we believe we obey. When we believe we protect. When we believe we love. When we believe we fight for truth. When we believe we are intolerant of our God being profaned. When we believe we ACT.
Let your action be the yard stick for your belief.
Credits: Beth Moore - Building new Walls
"If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for ten years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people." 
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2 comments:
Hookem,
The Believing God Study is great. I just finished my day 5 homework. I actually found day 4 to be the best for me. Righteous acts motivated by legalism = No Value! I posted this morning as well.
There is a book that I once read titled "Reaching for the Invisible God" by. Phillip Yancey.
I actually spoke a couple of weeks ago based on this idea. I came to the realization that having doubts and questioning my faith is a normal thing. This is something that no one ever shared with me, but when I read the book it was refreshing to see that people like Luther actually struggled with his faith and believing that the whole God thing was in fact true. I also realized that if God wanted us to have all the anwsers He would have given them to us. The problem with that is then we would take it to an extreme. If we knew at what age a child is accoutable for their salvation lets say 10 for instance. Well we would take that to an extreme and every child would be killed at the age of 9 and a half just to be safe. To believe in something that we never really see touch and smell is only natural to struggle from time to time with it. Here is a quote I enjoyed from the book. "If knowing anwsers to life's questions is absolutely neccessary to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for this is a journey of unknowables - of unanswered questions, enigmas, incomprehensibles, and most of all things unfair." Madame Jeanne Guyon.
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