April 22, 2014–Cherish the word over the world

Darren & Lydia Apr. 2014For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:18-21)

Have you ever felt yourself fearing what the world thought of your faith?  I will admit that when I was younger I used to worry about what philosophers and the media thought of my faith.  I went as far as to renounce my faith at one point in my life because this fear was so strong.

The opinions of men are mortal in nature and have a certain lifespan that ends at the grave.  Each one of us will appear before the Father one day and have to account for the opinions that we allowed to influence our life.  We will stand before Him and give account for our beliefs that were not aligned with His word.  I can assure you that in that moment He will not say, “Oh that was a very good reason for not believing me.”

We are to trust and obey Him.  We are to renounce the thoughts and ways of the world even when they seem to have a speck of wisdom about them, and if we are easily swayed by these thoughts, then we probably shouldn’t be listening to them at all.

Too much sugar might taste good, but in the end it will make you sick.  It is the same with the thoughts of men. They seem to have an air of superiority about them, but in the end they cause emotional sickness and spiritual death.

We cannot take ourselves out of this world, but it doesn’t mean that we have to watch every movie that comes out or watch every show or news program on TV.  We don’t have to read the latest blogs or newspapers.  We can turn these things off.  These actually can become clutter that will inhibit us from walking in greater faith.

When you feed on a thought pattern that is not of Christ more than the word of God, it is going to have an effect on your ability to believe the things that God says.  In fact listening to the clutter can actually stop you from recognizing the voice of God when He does speak.

The Psalmist said, Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long (Psalm 119:97); and again Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path (Psalm 119:105); and yet again, Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11).

It is when we cherish the word more than the world that our paths become straight.  It is when we trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understandings, but acknowledge Him in all of our ways, that our paths are strong and secure (Proverbs 2:5-6).

The life of a Christian is a life of sacrifice, but the sacrifice does not seem so costly when the benefits of the Kingdom begin to appear at your feet.  I haven’t sacrificed anything for God that He hasn’t given back to me many times in this life, not to mention what awaits me in the life to come.

We need to start obeying Him and listening to Him more than we listen to the philosophers and sages of this world.  I don’t even subjugate myself to their thoughts anymore.  I choose to believe the evidence that my faith is presented in Christ.  My well-being and peace of heart are evidence to me that I have made the right decision.

You need to choose wisely today.