(To see Parts 1 and 3 of this 3-part post, please go to What does it mean to live for Christ? Part 1 of 3 ~ Finding the Way and What does it mean to live for Christ? Part 3 of 3 ~ Intentionally Living for God.)
Is it possible to get in sync with the God of the universe? Is he accessible? Is he interested in the details of our lives? Yes, yes and yes! Scripture tells us that he is not far,[1] that he is found by all who seek him,[2] and that he wants us to walk through this life in accordance with him,[3] even keeping in step with him.[4]
As I struggled to write this post succinctly, God reminded me of the old hymn, “Trust and Obey.”[5] The chorus says that “there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”[6] I have to admit that trusting and obeying are not easy. We live in a cynical and defiant age, and I have been guilty of joining in.
Then there is the inward struggle. First, we have this nagging sense that we’re unlovable. To make matters worse, there is the problem of God knowing everything,[7] including our thoughts.[8] It’s easy to feel like we just have to plod through this life trying to be good and hoping he’ll accept us. It’s hard to trust him with our day-to-day lives when we know that he knows (even better than we do) all of our imperfections. Why would he want to bless us? How could he want us to be with him? Why would he let us, much less help us, get in sync with him?
Once we really know God and his ways, though, trusting and obeying become easier. Then the more we trust and obey him, the more he reveals to us about himself. As God pursues us and we pursue him, a God-designed, heaven-bound, upward spiral of trusting, obeying and knowing our Lord draws us deeper and deeper into his heart.
And pursue him we must. All healthy relationships are reciprocal. God already has given more of himself to us in the sacrifice of Jesus than we can ever give to him. In order to get in sync with God, to really know him and as a grateful response to his love and grace, we have to pursue him, in just the ways we would pursue another person—by spending time with him, learning more about him, communicating with him, and giving of ourselves to him and for him.
Because of my skepticism and self-absorption, none of these opportunities was desirable at first. I needed some hard knocks to learn that the things I had trusted were not reliable. God is so good, so patient, and so loving, though, that he continued to pursue me even while I wasn’t pursuing him. He taught me that the spiritual disciplines of prayer, studying the Bible, and investing myself in relationships with other believers were not drudgery. Rather, these are his gracious provision of ways to access him, to know him better, to learn to walk in step with him, to come to be in him.
Enjoying these privileges is a wonderful and life-giving experience that enables us to seek and to find God and, as a direct result, to learn how to live for him. I’ve found that there are no greater joys than being in his presence, being aware of his hand in my life, leaning all of my weight on his promises, and experiencing his working through me and others to accomplish his eternal goals. What a great God we have, that he would take someone like me and mold my heart to be more like his and, as a result, a ready participant in his perfect plans.
The more he works in me, the more I want him to. I know that seeing more of the areas where I fall short of pleasing God will be painful, but the joy and peace that are at the other end of the transformation are worth it. Becoming better prepared to join in God’s work on earth is worth it. Living in increasing unity with God and other believers[9] is worth it. The confidence that I will spend eternity with him is worth it.[10]
John 14:21
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
REFLECTION
- Does your life suggest that you are trusting in the all-knowing, all-powerful and holy God of the Bible?
- What areas do you need to pray for God to help you trust him with more?
- What life-giving adventures in faith[11] have you experienced as the result of trusting God and submitting to his redirection?
- What area do you think God is calling you to get in sync with him and his ways? Pray for him to help you see your sin and to bring you into obedience.
PRAYER
Father God, please help me to walk by faith and not by sight, trusting you entirely with everything.
FOOTNOTES
[5] John Henry Sammis, Trust and Obey, public domain, 1887.
[6] Italics added.
[11] Warren W. Wiersbe, “The Neglected I AM,” in Jesus in the Present Tense: The I Am Statements of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2011), 179.