By: G. Markland
In
today’s culture, many people have the opinion that we should live by our own
standards, oblivious to the Word of God. Some want the blessings of the
promises of God, without subjecting themselves to obedience to God. However, to
truly be happy and fulfilled, we must examine ourselves in the light of God’s
Word and live by it.
The
Bible says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105 NLT).
The
stress and tensions of life become more unbearable when we live in selfish
disobedience to the Word of faith. Yet simple submission and obedience to God’s
Word relieve the stress that disobedience and today’s culture impose. Doubt is
crippling, but faith is empowering; so make that leap! Faith in action brings
victory!
The
Bible says in James 2:26, that faith without works is
dead. I have learned that faith with works (action) is alive. Faith without
works (action) can become an unfulfilled fantasy. For if I have faith that God
is leading me, but I do not follow or act on it, then faith turns to doubt and
my inaction leads to death; the death of my faith and the death of my dream.
This is a horrible state in which to exist.
Unfulfilled
faith creeps into one’s life like oil into water. Just as oil pollutes, leaving
a nasty film which ruins the purity of the water - so doubt, solidified by
inaction, covers the purity of faith; rendering it polluted, unfit, and
unusable. Faith activated by works (action) skims the doubt that covers the water
of life, cleans it, and recovers the purity of the gift that obedience brings
to fruition.
We
must be doers of the word and not just hearers. It is so human to hear the
word, rejoice in what we hear, and then…. ponder. Pondering plants seeds of
doubt, which grows into the mighty tree of procrastination, that bears the
poisonous leaves of inaction.
“But
they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are
like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves
never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (Psalms 1:2 NLT).
We
must be like good soldiers and jump to attention, springing into action at the
orders of our commander, the Lord. But what do we do instead? We hear the order
and then prepare to jump, but inaction and hesitation cause us to get caught in
the preparation, and we fail to jump. What a sad sight, to see the army of the
Lord procrastinating before Him! How undignified!
It
is better to jump and fall, than be stuck squatting down to jump. Squatting is
a horrible place to stay. You can’t sit down. You can’t rise up. You can
neither rest in your success nor stand in the knowledge of a job well done. Go
ahead and jump! You can ask how high on the way up! Better to relieve the
tension and stretch in the jump than to live with the constant strain of being
stuck in the squat. Obedience in the jump is the better way. Make that leap of
faith. We’ll see you on the way up!
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