jeremy:  Is That God or My Stomach Talking?

I think there is a little voice inside every one of us that wants to send us down the path of least resistance, the path of comfort, or the path of self-gratification.  I know I certainly have one.  When I make decisions , generally that little voice is right there saying, "well, that's great but WHAT"S IN IT FOR ME!!!"   Usually that's followed by, "And I mean what's in it for me RIGHT NOW!!!"

     Okay, so maybe the voice isn't all that little.

     Far too often this is the voice we listen to.  Many times, its even the voice we are really listening to when we claim to be listening to God.  One of the great dilemmas of the life of a follower of Jesus can be sorting out whether what we are hearing is God telling us to do something, or whether we are listening to our own desire for self-gratification, our own fear, or our own intellect.  Thankfully, though, we have the Bible to give us principles for sorting this out.  So here are some keys to determining whether God is telling you to act, move, jump, work somewhere else, or even marry that guy or girl.  Reading them is the easy part.  The hard part is being honest enough to apply them:

     1.  God will never tell you to sin.  That may seem obvious, but it doesn't seem to play out that way in our lives.  One area where this happens a lot when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances.  Generally there is an easier way out of those circumstances that may require us to shade the truth a little, or simply keep quiet about something, or deny our involvement, or whatever.  The hard truth is that God did not provide that way out!  If your way out of trouble requires you to compromise the ethics that following Jesus requires, if it requires you to act unlovingly, unethically, or to simply be mean, then it is not God's way out.  

     James 1: 13-14 says that "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

     2.  God will always require faith.  We have to keep in mind that we have been saved for a purpose.  Jesus gave His life for us out of love, and part of the purpose of the new life he gives us is to give His Father glory.  John 15:8 says "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."  So how do we bring glory to God?  By bearing fruit.  By growing in the characteristics that are pleasing to Him.  And in order to grow and to please Him, we have to have faith.  Indeed, the writer of Hebrews says that ". . . without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."  

     So we have to ask ourselves, is this choice one that requires that I rely on God?  One that will bring Him glory when His provision, truth, and love is shown? Or is it one that depends on my own abilities, my own limitations, my own fear?

     3.  God will never tell us to be unloving.  Ok, we're past the easy stuff now.  :)  Have you ever had somebody in your life that just irritated you to death?  That you couldn't stand to be in the same room with?  We like to make choices that put us with people we like.  People that have the same interests and prejudices we have.   People who tell the same jokes we do.  We want to hang out with the people that make us comfortable.  Yet, we are called to love everyone.  This is one of the toughest things to get by.  We have to beware of making choices based on who we like and don't like.  When Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13 that Love "does not seek its own,"  this is part of what he was talking about.  James wrote that "If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers."  James 2:8-9.  God will never lead us to a path that shows preference because of people's apparent talents, abilities, wealth, social position or fame.  His paths will only show the value that every individual has to Him, and the potential they have in service as followers of Jesus.

     That's all for this week.  I'll continue this in the next issue and talk about self-importance, mission focus, and life-insurance.

~Jer

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