Our Own Way of Thinking

Readings:
II Chronicles 29
Romans 1:18-32

Focus:
Romans 1:28: "Thus, because they have not seen fit to acknowledge God, he has given them up to their own depraved way of thinking, and this leads them to break all rules of conduct."

One objection that people often raise to Christianity is that they feel that it is mean of God to punish people (as they think). Why, they ask, should God be vengeful?

What people often do not consider, however, is that God is really just letting people have the consequences of what they have chosen to do. God created the universe. He created nature. He created us. He created everything to work in a certain way. When we decide to ignore God and do things our own way, things don't always work the way they're supposed to work, because we're not doing things the way they were created to work. It's as if we had a new product and ignored the instructions, and used it in a way that was likely to make it break.

So when we do things our own way, quite often bad consequences happen. It's just the natural result of using ourselves and others in ways that we were not made to be used. It's our fault if things go wrong. God isn't waiting to get us; we "get" ourselves.

It's much better to follow the instructions--the Bible.

Forsaking God When We Are Strong

Readings:
II Chronicles 12
Acts 21:1-14

Focus:
II Chronicles 12:1: "When Rehoboam's kingdom was firmly established and he grew powerful, he along with all Israel forsook the law of the Lord."

It is so tempting, when we are successful or strong or powerful, to think of our own achievements, and to give credit to ourselves for what we have done and become. It is easy at times like that to forget God.

That appears to be what happened to Rehoboam and the kingdom of Israel over which he ruled. He no longer felt the need for God. He was a powerful king; why did he need to turn to God?

When this happened to Rehoboam, God brought the King of Egypt to defeat Rehoboam and become his master, so that Rehoboam would know the difference between serving the Egyptian king and serving God. It is a good lesson to learn. Serving God is far better than being in bondage to people or things.

Deaf to the Truth

Readings:
I Chronicles 12
Acts 7:23-8:1

Focus:
Actss 7:51a:"How stubborn you are, heathen still at heart and deaf to the truth!"

When I read about Stephen saying this to the religious authorities who had arrested him, it's easy for me to think of the people he was addressing. They were continuing in the line of both secular and religious Israelite authorities who had murdered so many of the prophets after ignoring their messages.

It is also easy for me to think of various kinds of contemporary people who seem to be heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. There are those who ignore God altogether and live for their own pleasure or profit. There are those who say they follow God but distort his message in all kinds of different ways, using it to twist his teachings or to do wrong. These are the people, I think, to whom Stephen would be speaking today.

But I always need to remember that I could so easily be heathen at heart and deaf to the truth myself. I must never become complacent and think I know everything about what God has said and what he wants. It's one reason for regularly reading the Bible and thinking about it anew. It's also a reason for habitually praying, and by that I mean not making requests of God, but opening myself to hear what he has to say.

Living in close relationship with God, constantly asking him to show us what he wants us to do, is how we can be sure not to be heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.