THE FACE OF LOVE CHAPTER 13 IS GOD REQUIRING TOO MUCH FROM MAN?

 

THE FACE OF LOVE

CHAPTER 13

IS GOD REQUIRING TOO MUCH FROM MAN?

When we walk by sight and not by faith, we are constantly creating an illusion of what we think life is and what we want our life to be. Just think about that. Your lack of faith contributes to your bondage and becomes the forebearer of frustration, depression, disillusionment, and all negative thoughts that are bound to arise in your life. Each step you take into darkness is a chance of falling and sinking into hopeless despair. As we cannot see the future and lack the preparedness to embark upon that journey, walking by sight, we are left to trust our clouded vision. Why would God tell us to walk by faith, blindly trusting Him, if He could not already see the future and have a plan for each and every one of our lives?

Whereas, everyone at some time or another has their own idea of what life is and/or should be, we are surrounded by a hodgepodge of ideological and philosophical information that we must sift through and choose to adopt or reject. And, as if we were lost in a forest, with trees towering over our heads, it can be hard to differentiate one tree from the other. Thus, by trusting man, and leaning to our own understanding, we can spend a lifetime wandering through life aimlessly.

When we walk by sight, we can only see the image that we want to be, instead of the image God has created us to be. Why does that matter? It makes you into a non-believer and shows that you do not trust God or feel the need to obey Him. Our first mistake in assessing life and its possibilities is operating under the assumption that we alone can build a perfect life. Now, you may say that no one has a perfect life, but, our preparations, demands, disappointments, and privileges speak loudly to reveal our utmost expectations. We want the best out of life as we see it. The world will promise us the best out of life in millions of ways if we follow after it, panting for what we believe to be the best things life has to offer us. We cannot see that this is the ploy of our adversary. Our prideful vision of who we are and what we deserve out of life brings us straight to the adversaries door where he welcomes us in. Blinded, we do not recognize him for who and what he is.

When we walk by sight, some or all of the Principles and Commandments of God seem to be unreasonable or doubtable. We try to align the Word of God with the ideology, doctrine, and philosophy of the world, instead of using them to prove the Word of God and His desires for us and the world. Often, we cannot see a certain aspect of holiness as pertaining to us as an individual, because, we are caught up in individualism, egocentric behavior that keeps us clinging to our flesh, the world, and our pride. In our minds, we have established our own set of rules and principles, having gathered and chosen the ideas that we see as getting us what we want. We have separated a part or all of ourselves from God, in order to believe that we are in complete or partial control of our lives and destiny. We see God's parental authority as denying us of worldly joy and self-prescribed privilege, simply because we have not placed Jesus, the Son and Word of God, as the center of our joy and king of our life.

Is God requiring too much of us? We may say that we believe in Him and try to worship Him, but, somehow, when it comes down to everyday living, outside of worship and service, we fail to allow God to rule over every aspect of our lives. We fail to see that serving God is a daily and lifetime commitment. We may believe that God makes exceptions to the rules, or, constantly changes His mind. When we have not died to our flesh to submit to God's Will, pride tells us that since times have changed, we have better knowledge and judgement than those who have come before us. Through the process of rationalization, we surmise that since times have changed, God should change also to make allowances for mankind's changing ideology and advances that effect our behavior and beliefs. Again, we fail to look at God's overall plan because of indifference, rejection, rebellion, or a lack of understanding our role. Understanding our role begins with understanding that time was made for man. You exist because this is your chosen time. Times haven't changed for God and will never change for God. God is not only eternal, being that He is our Creator, we must recognize that God is eternity, The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and the End.

We may believe that we should be able to keep up with the fleeting trends and times of life, even if those trends and changing times are contrary, that is, in opposition to the Will of God. Our pride may tell us that we should be able to keep up with the Joneses, or, do as the Romans when in Rome. After all, we rationalize, don't we believe in God? Don't we try to be good? We give to God and try to obey most of His rules, so, shouldn't He be reasonable, flexible, rational, and lenient, by allowing us to enjoy the simple pleasures in this earthly life? We want credit, for what we have done, are doing, and will do for God in the future, as if we have taken out a line of credit at a department store.  Shouldn't He allow us to rule over our own mind and body and indulge in worldly pleasures, since we believe they don't harm us or others? In other words, our words are reinventing God's Grace and Mercy to fit our desires.  

We become creations trying to reinvent their creator. We blame God for having made us the way we are and then, being dissatisfied with our behavior, without taking into consideration that God, having love for us, permitted us to have free will. As rebellious children, angry with their parent, our inflated egos feel entitled to shout in anguish, "After all, we didn't ask to be born, we just woke up and found ourselves on this planet, which many call Godforsaken. So what, if we break a few of your unreasonable rules? We don't see them or you as being loving or understanding of our needs for having made them." The hardened hearts of the defiant ones complain by speaking through their actions, "How dare God tell me what and what not to feel. I want no part of a god like that. You can keep your god and your religions."

In disobeying God, we are leaning to our own understanding. The question we should be asking is how much do we really understand about anything? In our short years upon Earth we have accumulated a small portion of knowledge from the unknown universe of knowledge. In our short lifetime, we have amassed only a small portion of experience that is unique to us and our interpretation of that experience. Each person experiences things in life differently. So, how much does one person really know? Moreover, who can beat God's giving? Why should God have to settle for what we choose to give Him, when we expect Him to deliver us from evil and keep us in good health and prosperity? 

When we walk by sight, we are unable to see that we are in self, that is, living in the flesh, selfishly. We choose not to care and refuse to die to self and the flesh daily, because, that would mean depriving ourselves of something that we feel we deserve. We are led by our feelings and feel we have no choice but to give in to our feelings. Having become spoiled little children, we are wrapped up in privilege, ungrateful for being spared from the wrath of God and the perils of self-love and damnation. Yet, unknowingly, we may be out on a limb or dangling from a rope, in danger of falling to our death at any moment. Still, we rebel against God because of our feelings and pride. We want to be able to feel what we desire at any given moment. We revel in our anger, our pride, our lust, and our hunger to taste what we desire to satiate the desires of the flesh that define our illusion of happiness and abundant life, as we see it pertaining to our life, in this world.

As we rebel against Truth, yielding to selfishness and pride, we are tempted to cry out the weak and pride driven lies of the flesh, in rebuttal to God's Word, "WE ARE ONLY HUMAN! WE ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE MISTAKES BECAUSE WE'RE NOT PERFECT!" But, what is a human? Where did a human come from? What is a human capable of doing? By claiming to be only human we are denying and forsaking our heritage! We are not simple, mindless animals that only act upon instinct. Making a mistake and claiming a mistake as part of your being, lifestyle, social structure, or, culture are not the same thing. As Believers, we must not sin for the sake of sinning. We must stand for something and someone. One must examine what they BELIEVE IN and stand firmly upon The Solid Rock, who is Christ Jesus, the manifested Word of God. The Word is UNCHANGING. The Word was there in the Beginning and The Word is God, who is and forever will be UNCHANGED. God has spoken.  With God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! We can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens us. Therefore, we can be free from sin and be perfected through Christ. This we must not only believe, we must learn to walk within its truth, daily.

Choosing to live life as we please forces us to set a hierarchy of holiness and righteousness and choose the level in which we are comfortable in living and tolerating. This is why man's laws change or come and go, if they are not founded upon God's Truth.  In order to enjoy what you see as abundant life in the world, are you willing to take the risk of separating yourself from God and Christ to live as the world lives? If you are willing to take the risk, be it for a moment, a day, or, a lifetime, blinded, you will have stepped outside of the realm of God's Kingdom and protection, choosing to grope within the dark and dimly lit tunnels of worldly pleasure. 

I can remember when I viewed my parents and elders as having outdated, old-fashioned thinking, ways, and beliefs. In my mind, they just didn't know any better. Time had passed them by and I wasn't going to let it happen to me. It was my time, now, and I was going to live my life to the fullest. I believed, God was not going to mind me thinking and doing as I pleased. Surely, the consequences of my behavior couldn't be as harsh as they said and even if I was wrong and they were, it was my life to do with as I please. I thought myself old enough and smart enough to think for myself. Looking back on how I acted upon my beliefs, I can now measure the quantity and quality of my, then, very narrow thinking and limited beliefs. Blessed to become older and wiser, I now know that everything that I do effects everyone around me. My decisions are not only crucial to me and my immediate family, but, to all of Heaven and Earth; for, as Jesus told us, as it is in Heaven, so, shall it be on Earth. He even gave us the privilege through prayer and the favor of God to ask for God's power to be unleashed from Heaven to Earth. 

What God expects from us goes back to His purpose for creating us, which is to have a loving and caring relationship with us so that we can become part of His Kingdom, and also, to use us as examples of what Children of His Kingdom, on Earth and in Heaven should aspire to become.

Depending on the type of person your and the character you choose to have, you may not want a relationship with God. So, is God asking for too much in return for His goodness? Did God condemn me for my rebellious beliefs and behavior as a teenager and young adult? No. To condemn me would be to see or offer no hope for me; to desert me and give up on me; and to deliver me to hell and damnation. No, God knew that I did not know what I was doing because I lacked knowledge and experience, but, above all I lacked a relationship with Him. He looked beyond my faults to see my need. Did He want me to continue in my errant ways? No. He also knew that I lacked the will to learn, the guidance of His Holy Spirit, and the guidance of those commissioned to make disciples and prepare the saints for His Kingdom. God showed me His Grace and His Mercy, not my idea of the Grace and Mercy He should have. He did not tolerate my behavior because it was tolerable or excusable. He was not indifferent about the choice I had made. It wasn't that He just didn't care about what I had done, because, it didn't effect Him, or others. Nonetheless, we choose to see God not intervening to stop us and His allowing the changing times and trends as a sign of His approval, indifference, or, His non-existence.  We view the continuation of the world, remaining as it is, in sin, in much the same way, contributing it to  God's non-existence, God's approval, or, God's tolerance. And so, instead of drinking from the Fountain of Life, to thirst no more, we choose to temporarily satiate our undying thirst, by accepting the makings and workings of a world under the influence of the adversary. 

What are those makings and workings God sees as sin? There is no need for me to list the selfish and worldly things Believers do when they fail to walk by faith in Spirit and in Truth, glorifying the Father. It is an endless list. What is most important is that we look at the cause, purpose, and effect of our behavior to determine its fruitfulness and how it glorifies God. When our feelings and behavior do not align with the Character of God, leading to them becoming fruitless, we can indeed look at it as sin.

Feelings and the persuasion of the world can become the dominating factors in our decision making. Yet, God gave us power to rule over our feelings and accept His Will. When we are blinded, we interpret truth to become relevant to the desires we hold at the moment. This is what happens when we have taken our eyes off of Jesus and Heavenly things and set them upon the things of this world. We fail to see ourselves sinking and the water slowly rising to swallow and devour our souls. Bathing in self-love, we fail to notice that we are drowning, for having created our own measurement for sin and corruption to go along with the changing times and the accepting eyes of the world. This explains the rise and acceptance of corrupt leaders and movements, which gain popularity through lies and deception, with the intention of promoting their own selfish agenda. The world has no universal set of standards for man to live by, opening the door for corrupt, prideful, and selfish hearts to be used by the adversary.

Although, we are walking by sight, we cannot see that our will to please God, if ever there was one, becomes secondary to our will to please ourselves and others who are of the world. That same self-love maintains the image or desires we have for ourselves. God's standards exists to keep us healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Being our Creator, He knows what we need and He knows how much we can bear. The world does not love us, but, our Heavenly Father's love for us is unconditional and undying. Like the adversary, the world feeds upon our pride, greed, lust, selfishness, and unfruitfulness. Is it any wonder that we often find ourselves unhealthy physically, spiritually, and mentally, when we try to live by the many conflicting and harmful standards of an unhealthy world? As we traverse down the world's perilous roads, we cannot see the danger and the adversary does not want us to see that our wounds and illnesses are self-inflicted, because, pleasing ourselves comes with a price.

Do the times, years, trends, and influencers have more power and authority than God? Those who live according to their love of the world and act according to their feelings will try to convince you that they do. Can God's Will, Principles, Commandments, and Morals become outdated?  For instance, should we continue to stone people as punishment for adultery and immorality because God allowed it long ago? First, we must define stoning and determine why God allowed it. As we read the early accounts of the Israelites, God is trying to purge them of sin. He tells them to root out sin and drive out sinners in order to stop the spread of sin. God wants His people to resist sin. Stones are weapons of resistance, just as they are used today in rebellions and protests. So, we haven't stopped stoning, we've simply changed some of the reasons for stoning and sought other measures to solve our problems. It was never God's intention for us to harden our hearts and hate others. That was not the purpose of stoning. But, instead, He intended for us to hate the sins in which they took pleasure in committing. Sinning is an act against the Will of God. Those who continue to sin out of pleasure and love for sin, are enemies of God and are at war with God.

It is not that stoning is outdated everywhere, for surely, it continues in many places on Earth. In many places where stoning is forbidden, the change has been in the laws of man, brought about by the understanding in man's heart of the harshness and severity of this punishment he administered for betrayal. In many places, change came about because man sought to become more civilized, not because of a change in heart. It was God's intention, all along, that the hearts of men would change and understand forgiveness and unconditional love. The popularity of divorce and the incidents of spousal abuse and murder, indicate that man still continues to have much to learn.

 

By the Grace and Mercy of God, Through the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus

Forever Indebted, Forever Grateful,

Your Servant,

Mishael

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