My Hope For The New Year

I apologize in advance if what I'm saying here is redundant to what you already know, but even if it is, I think the subject is worthy of repetition. I say this as a friend to any who will listen and as a former convict of my own words... 

There are many who've confessed Christ that feel as though they've had "religion" force fed to them that though they may not actively deny or reject their previous confession, they shy away from fellowship or active participation in practicing the tenets related to their confession.

I know they exist because not only have I been one of them in the past, I've also met a number of them. My intention is not to confront them here, but to plead with them to consider a few things...   

To begin with, I'm sure this isn't true of you, but if you're just exercising the ceremony of a religion", there's a possibility that you may have missed the point and goal of your God given purpose to have life. The Lord Himself indicated that the art of ceremony performed just for the sake of being able to say or show that you did it isn't what He's looking for or desires. There's something more...

Isaiah 1:13-18 (NLT) 13 "Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.16 Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. 18“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool."

If what we do is done in right relationship with Him and with intention for His pleasure, it becomes an acceptable offering, but the exercise of religion for religion's sake is nothing more than an offensive stench to Him. Notice that I underlined "relationship". El ElYon (God Most High), is courting all of us in an effort to establish a personal relationship with each one of us. Anything less than that misses His purpose in creating us and leaves Him wanting. We were created by and for His holy pleasure.

Revelation 4:11 (KJV) "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

Honestly, other newer biblical versions may translate this particular verse differently, but this verse in the King James has captivated and motivated my heart. I am because it was for His pleasure that I was created and it is for His pleasure ... that I am. I know the purpose of the eternal soul that I am and it's become my joy to seek to fulfill it through my relationship with Him.

I'm very wary of worldly intellectualism, preferring to make the word of God my highest and dominant guide above any other, given the prevalent infection of corruptible human intellect all around us. But in searching for a definition of relationship, I came across a definition by Psychology Today that I found very interesting:

"Love is one of the most profound emotions known to human beings. There are many kinds of love, but most people seek its expression in a romantic relationship with a compatible partner. For some, romantic relationships are the most meaningful element of life, providing a source of deep fulfillment. The ability to have a healthy, loving relationship is not innate. A great deal of evidence suggests that the ability to form a stable relationship begins in infancy, in a child's earliest experiences with a caregiver who reliably meets the infant's needs for food, care, protection, stimulation, and social contact. Those relationships are not destiny, but they appear to establish patterns of relating to others. Failed relationships happen for many reasons, and the failure of a relationship is often a source of great psychological anguish. Most of us have to work consciously to master the skills necessary to make them flourish."     (the emphasis - the underline, is mine)

Consider a couple of things here. First understand that we get our emotions from Father God, having been created in His image. Though ours may not be perfect, His are. Then consider that Father God is our ultimate care giver - our Father, and that you and I are His child, then read it again. He's already the relationship Master, the work to master our part in relationship with Him requires a continual effort that holds immeasurable reward. If we're simply idling through life, content to simply rest on our confession of faith or performing a religion for God, then we're missing the whole point of this journey.

Next, let's be honest. We're corruptible and fallible beings. We acknowledged and admitted to that when we accepted Christ as our savior. If we were perfect and incorruptible, we wouldn't need a savior, but we definitely aren't and certainly do. That's why we confessed our sins and accepted Jesus as our savior. But...

Even as confessors and followers of Christ, if we're not continually led by something stronger than the weaknesses of the flesh we still bear, the lure to compromise and the snare of satisfying a sudden urge are never far from our own feet. So our sober and continual challenge is to stay focused on Jesus and yield to the leading of His spirit inside us. Any departure from that focus and leading leaves us in peril. 

This may be why some people may seem to "harp at you" or have attempted to "force feed" you scripture or truths from God's word. If they're truly in relationship with our Lord, their efforts are not intended to beat you up or show themselves as better than you are, but because they recognize the danger you're in - the danger that I think exists even more particularly around those who have confessed Christ as their savior and the Messiah. They care about you and want you to experience the fullness of relationship with Father God that you may be missing. On a scale, there are none of us above any other - we're all sinners. The only potential difference that may exist between any of us rests in grace, so the embarrassment of having sinned rests on all of us. The blessings and life to be found in relationship with Father God are off the scale, but even as His committed disciples we're still possibly subject to potential failure.

Let's face it. satan doesn't have any particular anxiety about worldly, unsaved people - he's already got them right where he wants them. But you and I on the other hand are a different story. he knows that within us, through Christ in us, lies the potential to destroy strongholds he labored for years to build. he knows that the power within us has already defeated him and that through Jesus in us, we pose a threat everything that he's been doing or tries to do. But he's a master of cunning and has had millenniums to perfect his craft. All around us are inviting temptations to visit little departures from what Father God has told us in advance. Just a little gossip, a little lie, a little pornography, a little deviation - just a little, can become a slow poison with the power to have serious consequences in a number of ways.

The Apostle Peter recognized the danger that we face as disciples and warned the very Elders of Christ's church as well as other followers of Jesus. And I'm convinced that if even the Elders were in peril, neither I, nor you are above the same potential threat... 

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NLT) "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are."

Just like in the Aesop fable "The Bundle Of Sticks", there truly is strength in numbers, especially when you're talking about a gathering of Christ's people...

Ephesians 4:11-16  (NLT): 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."

It's through Christ in us as we meet together that we're strengthened and lifted up. We are none yet perfected, but as Christ in us continues to transform us into a better image of Himself and as we share that journey and experience together that we find ourselves strengthened, share the helps and wisdom that His grace has blessed us with and walk through life's trials together rather than on our own in any loneliness or weakness. Yes, there may be things that we feel some conviction to overcome or cut off, but that's part of the life giving and freeing transformation. There may even be some things that we may feel the need to confess, but again that's part of getting out the garbage so that we can become free and healthy. 

There are some things that are spiritual poison to us and if you're carrying any of that, I guarantee that you know exactly what it is - it's a burden you know well. If you are and you fear being embarrassed, think of it this way - what embarrassment is there in confessing to having committed a theft to a group of thieves? We're all guilty of having sinned - all of us. But most importantly, confess it to the Lord. He already knows about it. He's just waiting for that moment of your surrender to confess it and your request for His forgiveness. If this is true of you and you take it to Him, then lean on other committed followers of Christ for support and accountability to help keep you straight, strong and free. 

There are many reasons that the gathering together of Christ's church is important, but a part of that is that there is strength in numbers. If you're struggling, get free, get healthy, lean on a committed family of Christ followers and then pay it forward as you're able. A committed gathering of Christ's followers should be just that - a family with Christ as the head and as close or closer than any blood relative - with you as an invaluable and indispensable part - because that's how Jesus sees you. 

Hebrews 10:23-25(NLT) 23 "Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."

So now to my hope for the new year: I pray that if you're sitting on the sidelines, not engaged in an active personal relationship with our awesome Lord, that you find the courage, motivation - whatever you're lacking - to move. I pray that the Lord grants you a revelation of Himself and of all that you're missing. I pray that He makes Himself and His word real to you and that you're able to meet Him in intimate, freeing surrender and find yourself walking through this year in the joy, wonder and awe of fulfilling His purpose for your life.