“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans. If only my people would listen to me and Israel would follow my ways, I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.”
I am “Israel” in the sense that I don’t always obey and follow God. My heart’s desire is to follow and obey him but I fall short so many times.
We all are if we’re willing to admit it.
Stubborn, hard of hearing and wanting to make our own plans.
If only we would listen to and follow God’s ways consistently.
There are hard consequences that come when we develop a staunch routine of living out our own determined plans apart from God’s plans. It’s so deceiving because I believe there is an element of, “Yeah, this is exactly what I want. This feels good. This feels right to me. I’m living out my truth.”
But in actuality it’s a very scary place to be. When God gives us over to what we want and what we want is not in line with his design and structure, there are incredibly hard consequences that come. It may feel great for a little while but that feeling will eventually morph into other feelings that trap and confine in terrible ways.
Going rogue on God will always cost us more than we think. But going rogue on God will look completely normal to the world because a Christ follower’s standard is not “what everyone else is doing or what feels right.” It’s based on God’s directives that are timeless and true.
Following God’s instructions are hard. It takes humility and denying ourselves. It means confessing when we are wrong and asking for forgivingness. There’s no doubt, much joy and hope in the Christ-centered life but it is not easy. Jesus didn’t try to sneak this one over on us either – he has a lot to say about the cost of following him. Sometimes we resort to what Randy calls “Bumper sticker faith” – the platitudes we read on signs and stickers.
We’ve all sinned and fallen short of God. Everyone one of us. But the assurance in the midst of that fallenness is that God provided a way for us to be forgiven. It’s a coming back home to him and receiving that forgiveness.
May we not go rogue on God and get what we think we truly want most. May we follow him at any cost.
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