Choosing The Will Of God

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the

 grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things 

that thou hast heard of me among many

 witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, 

who shall be able to teach others also. 

Thou the therefore endure hardness, 

as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 

No man that warreth entagleth himself 

with the affairs of this life; that he might 

please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

2Timothy 2:1-4 

     Cultural, or nominal, liberal Christians seem to love attention, drawing attention to themselves, those external things they perform, the things their denomination, or institution provides. These so-called Christians would have us believe that those antics performed (I do call them antics as they are not of God, but of man), any good will that they perform is evidence of their faith in God. Internal motivation, the heart, the will, determine what is done to be some form of worship. Philanthropy is said to be of the highest measure of faith in God. It seems as though cultural Christians, those nominal or liberal Christians are seeking some form of prosperity accumulating all the praise and attention they can get, and this "smacks" of greed, to be greedy for that which they reach out to receive. 

     What if the standards of the Bible were chosen to be their guide and not man-made doctrines? What would this do to their self-esteem? How would they have self-realization? How would any philanthropy be seen as something other than of themselves? How are those cultural Christians going to evaluate pride, vanity, self-love, self-interest, love ease, or love of pleasure, ambitions, and a love of social position? Where are the faithful men who teach the truth as the Bible clearly points out for us to follow? Why are cultural, nominal, or liberal Christians willing to do what others teach without seeking the truth, to inspect what they expect? Why are not cultural, nominal, liberal Christians willing to pay the cost? Well.....it boils down to what is in the heart. What is in our heart is what we will to be done in our life, in our external living, our outward expressions of God. Why is it that cultural, nominal, liberal Christians simply have a half-hearted love of God leading to half-hearted actions, and this due to the pressures of this world? 

     The measuring rod is Scripture, not man-made doctrines, as good as some may be, they are still from a man and must be measured by Scripture, not as to what they say Scripture means, no, it is what Scripture says is the truth. 

     You have a will and our will must agree with God, and it is true that at times your will will render you powerless to do what you know to do. God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit that lives in all Authentic Christians will guide you back from your infirmities, from the wrong choices of your will and bring you back to the will of God. Here is the problem: you must will to have God lead you back to the truth. God will give you, and has given to you, His will for you. You do not need to go looking in all the wrong places for His will; it is plainly outlined for you in Scripture. You have to work out what God works in: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which  worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). You cannot do anything other than choose to believe in Jesus Christ as your savior and this by the free gift of faith, a faith that comes by His word, but you can choose to not only believe but to do his will, even if now in this fallen life, this fallen soul, not done always perfectly, it can be done and bring pleasure to God for your choice. God is there to aid you, so....will you choose God or yourself or others? Are those teaching faithful so that you can have the truth from His word preached and taught so that you can have the ability to choose right? It is all up to you!

And if it seem evil unto you

     to serve the LORD, choose 

you this day whom ye will serve:

    whether the gods which your

fathers served that were on the

    other side of the flood, or the

gods of the Amorites, in whose land

   ye dwell: but as for my and my 

house, we will serve the LORD.

                   Joshua 24:15

Choose well: God is watching

Richard L. Crumb