For Our Own Good
Christian, do you know how sometimes you just know that the Lord has spoken to you? This is often a reminder or a confirmation of something we know is true from His word.
Just over a year ago a young man told me that he had heard very clearly from the Lord. It was at a conference setting where he had been focusing on God and His word for several days straight. This young man came away from that week clearly understanding that God did not want him to continue a relationship with a girl who was not a Christian.
Now, this offends many people. Unbelievers cannot understand why God wants us to be yoked with those who are like-minded. The truth is that this is one of the ways that He protects His people. We have recently discussed that we do not want to encounter God’s wrath. (She Said, He Said). The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10: 31). Unbelievers may unintentionally entice us into sin and the wrath of God because of that sin.
What we believe will directly affect the way we live. A person who does not know and love God, through His Son Jesus, does not have the power of the Holy Spirit directing his thinking or actions. Though many non-Christian people have a very high set of ethical standards, they are not based on what God says but what looks good and feels right to the rest of the world.
The truth is that it’s very easy to look “good” compared to most people. Today most people have learned to live for their own comfort and advantage. If we meet someone who thinks of others, showing kindness and consideration, we often mistake them for Christians because it’s so unusual. It’s only when we really get to know them that we can see if the Lord is at work in them. He says that we will know those who love Him by their fruit. The Bible says that the fruit (singular) of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). The next verse, Galatians 5:24 says, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
So, if a person who has this fruit of the Spirit and has crucified the fleshly passions and desires becomes yoked to a person who does not have the fruit of the Spirit and is still battling the desires of the flesh, the believer is in danger of being led astray. Galatians 6:1 gives this warning: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” If we can be tempted by the sin of a brother how much more careful must we be about the sin of an unbeliever who will not care about pleasing the Lord?
I saw this young man recently and asked him about the relationship with the girl. I have asked him about her several times and reminded him of the truth he told me last summer. He is still in the relationship. He likes her a lot, she’s very nice. I’m sure she is or he wouldn’t like her. This time he told me he’s no longer sure about this relationship with God. We discussed the amount of time he is spending in God’s word and prayer. The answer – 0 time.
He’s currently interested in a girl God has told him will ultimately be bad for Him but He is choosing to spend lots of time with her. In his heart he knows that his relationship with God is the most important relationship he will ever have and he is choosing to spend no time with Him. So the wrong relationship grows from the feeding it’s getting and the right relationship is stagnant because it is not getting fed.
He may reap what he sows. From my studies in 1 Samuel I was reminded of this when God speaks to Eli the priest about his sons who are sinning against God. Eli has not rebuked his sons or stopped them from dishonoring God with their immoral and downright disobedience to God’s commands. In 1Samuel 2:29 God said to Eli, “Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?”
Is not my young friend honoring his girlfriend above his God? He has received a clear understanding from God’s word that he is not to be with this girl. God told Eli a few verses later that He would remove Eli as priest, “And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.” 1 Samuel 2:35
I have no idea what the plans are that God has for this young man but I know that they are plans for his good and to prosper him and keep him, that’s what God’s word says. I also know that he will be separated from God if he continues to ignore God’s direction for his life. (Isaiah 59:2) It was in God’s protection that He gave him this warning last summer.
My young friend is ignoring God about this girl. He really likes her, she’s very nice. For you and me it may be something else, something that God has asked us to give up for Him; a person who isn’t good for us, an addiction that we secretly like so much that we don’t want to give it up (shopping, time on the internet, alcohol, a prescription drug, romance novels, etc.), or perhaps the sin of greed or gossip. We know it’s wrong. We read it in his Word, hear about it in sermons, or directly into our spirits God is nudging us to give it up. But we like it, it’s very nice to us so we ignore Him even though we teach others that with obedience comes blessing.
Proverbs 1:33b says, “; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
God’s wrath with disaster or dwelling in God’s security? Psalm 119:1 “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!” Will we receive the blessing or will God be raising up others to fill the positions He had prepared for us?