Joshua 24:14,15—Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness . . . But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
There are two courses in life—walking with God or walking without God.
Walking with God requires several elements:
Repentance—I must agree that my own sin separates me from God and be sorrowful over my sin such that I am willing to change.
Humility—(The evidence of repentance)--I must agree that I cannot secure a permanent relationship with God because of anything I earn or deserve. I am a sinner in need of grace—God’s awesome grace.
Faith—(The evidence of humility)--I must believe that God can defeat the death I’m helpless to stop, forgive the sin I have committed and give me a new body, a cleansed soul and the joy of living with Him and His followers forever.
Love—God is not a Puppetmaster but rather a Heavenly Father who is not only trustworthy but also loveworthy. Pursuing God means I jettison selfishness in order to love Him and thereby learn to love others as He loves them.
Obedience—(The evidence of love)—I must be willing to follow God’s will, to obey His Word and to allow Him to lead me. If I’m not willing to obey God anyone could rightly question whether I truly even know Him for the preceding elements would all be questionable.
Though I’m not immune from wrongdoing, pain, and suffering, the result of walking with God is inner peace and gratification. I’m no longer afraid of death because I know who owns the future and I’m no longer afraid of life because I know God loves me and will take care of me as He promises.
The second course, walking without God, also requires several elements:
Pride—I must decide that I don’t need God. I’m a pretty good person who can go my own way and shape my own destiny.
Rebellion—(The evidence of pride)—My theme song is "I Did It My Way. God cannot make me follow Him. I can believe whatever I choose to believe.
Self-centeredness—(The evidence of rebellion)—The problem I have with following after God is the fear that He might ask or want me to do something I don’t want to do. It’s easier to please myself and look out after #1 then to go through the hassles of serving an invisible God with His heavenly agenda.
Rationalization—(the evidence of self-centeredness). I'm unwilling to make a decision about following God so I use questions to justify my choice: 1. What about people who have never heard about Jesus--surely God cannot condemn them! 2. There are many paths to heaven--Christianity is just one path among many. 3. Christians are a bunch of hypocrites why would I want to become one? 4. How can a loving God send anyone to hell? 5. The Bible was written by men and therefore is fallible how can we know for sure it is true? 6. If God is perfect where did evil come from and why do "good" people suffer?
By sticking to any or all of these questions I avoid the personal responsibility of having to accept or reject who the Bible says God is and what He expects of me.
Courage—It takes great courage to choose not to follow God, to refuse to put my faith in Him and trust that I am right.
The result of walking without God is inner turmoil. Outwardly I appear calm or like I have my act together. Inside I wrestle with uncertainty about the future, lack of peace, and an emptiness that revolves around the issue—there must be more to life than what I am experiencing.
The Bible states:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)
Two courses, one decision—choose wisely!
Inspiration
