Are We Prepaired To Meet God? (Part 5)

Earl Gillespie

Are We Preparing To Meet God

Or

Are we just enjoying the trip?

Can you visualize yourself on a trip across country?  You have been offered a job in a city and state that you have never visited.  You mode of transportation is traveling by car.  You are enjoying the trip so much that you forget about what await you at your destination.  You are taking your time, taking in the sights and for a moment you began to wish the trip would never end.  The new company that you will be working for has promised to reimburse you for your travel expense among other benefits.   You become at ease as you slowly make your way across the country to your new residence.  In your moment of having fun and enjoying the trip you overlooked the fact that there was a time limit and the offer would be rescinded.  The moral of this story is, we can become so caught up in our journey that we loose track of our destination.

If you have been following my blogs, you will notice something different in this six part segment. The difference is that sometimes I refer to the scriptures but I did not publish books, chapter and verse.   In my normal Bible study blogs I use books, chapter and verse extensively to make a point.   In this segment I am trying to have more of a conversation that might cause you to invoke and apply the rule of common sense.  Often we are not given the chance to think in the matters of scriptures, we are told that “God said it” and once that seal is placed on the spoken word there is nothing more that can be said.   That is, unless you have the gall to stand out like the little boy in the story of the emperor's new clothes, and questions the status quo.   I consider myself a deeply religious person and for that reason I question a lot of things that are being attributed to the word of God.   Like the little boy playing in the sandbox who speak with great authority, “my daddy can whip your daddy” , we speak of God in that trivial manner and expect him to act.

What is being prepared to meet God?   Is there something we ought to be doing?  It seems that Christianity is all about cashing in on the blessing or promises of God.  God is doing so much blessing today that Christians ought to be rich and sinners should be poor.  Christians should be driving the fanciest cars while those who do not believe in God drive old beat up pickup trucks.  What did Jesus really promise his followers? Did he promise to be our lawyer in a courtroom and deliver us?  If he did then why did he allow John the Baptist his forerunner, his friend to remain in jail and get his head chopped off.   Did Jesus promise his followers wealth and glory? Why did he allow Paul to live and die in chains?   The Bible speaks of numerous people who suffered and died in the service of  their Master.  Today the major function of God is to break the chains.  Has God always spoken, or should I say do God always speak?  The answer is no, the children of Israel become so mired in sin that God went into his place,  issued a degree of divorcement and was silent for four hundred years.  Then he sent his son

The Bible is not a book of loosely inserted proverbs, each one relating to a specific event in our life.  The Bible is the sacred story of God’s creation and his interaction with his creation down through the ages and dispensations.  The Bible details Gods love for his creation and his plan to establish his Kingdom here on earth.  The devil attempted to overthrow His creator, and he was cast out of Heaven upon the earth where he attempted to establish his kingdom.  God created man to subdue the earth.   In a man’s first encounter with the devil he ceded control of God creation over to the devil.   Now the devil  does not want man to believe that he is in charge of the earth, he wants mankind to blame God for all of the evil that exists in the world.  The Devil wants humanity to go through life laughing and dancing and talking about what God is doing all the while the earth moans and groan under his evil influence.   Air pollution, water pollution, sickness, disease and death because the man choose not to live according to God's laws.  We twist the word of God and mis-locate scriptures and promise that God is going to heal this land. The Devil knows as long as we believe this we will not be prepared to meet God, we will go through this life with "no oil in our vessels."  

Think of a man, tortured, stripped of everything that was earthly dear to him.  He was lied on and spit upon, they placed a crown of thorns upon his head, then he was nailed to a cross, a spear was thrust into his side whereas he bled out and died.  Can you feel or visualize the pain?  Can you understand the suffering?  Why would the Son of God allow himself to be subjected to this type of sadist torture?  Why? He did it to pay a debt.  A debt that required a blood sacrifice.  Whose debt?  It was the sin debt of man.  Why?  Why?  Adam turned over to the Devil what God had given him dominion over.  A debt was incurred and justice demanded that the debt be paid according to the laws of Justice.  Justice demanded that man should die, but Jesus said, "I will pay the price."   John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.  What part of everlasting life we don't believe?  Was it necessary for the son of God to suffer so much pain so that we could be prosperous?

In our walk with God  we need to be careful of how we treat the name of God.  God issued a warning to the children of Israel that has been handed down through the generations when he said, "thy shall not take the Lord thy God's name in vain."  Apply the rule of common sense what does it mean to take God name in vain.  When the young child screamed, 'my daddy can whip your daddy", was he taking his father's name in vain?  Even if it was true did he expect his father to perform according to his wishes?  Do we mean what we say and most of all do we believe what we say.  In our daily walk when we reference God are we doing it in such a manner that others will be impressed and see God in our expressions? Or, are we just spouting trivial words that are designed to impress and excite?  Often in situations and times of despair we are told not to worry because God is in control, or God knows what he is doing.  These statements are true but the use can be wrong, being in control does not mean God is driving the car.  A deeper understanding of God's Word might allow us to see that God's control will be truly expressed in the day of judgement, and until that day man and his co-partner, the Devil, the antichrist is out to destroy the effectiveness of the Word of God.  Being in control means God allows and in his appointed time he will preform a strange work, he will render judgement upon a sin cursed world.

There are many paths that are littered with crumbs and the end thereof is destruction.  A walk in faith is following in the footsteps of Jesus, and searching for the fruit of the spirit.  Nothing could be truer than the words of that old song that says, "What more could he do. He has laid the foundation, open up the way, what more could my Lord do."  

Part #6

Do We Really Believe in God?