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We Sometimes Don’t Receive God’s Truth

#4 IN MY CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER JOURNEY THROUGH ROBERT MCGEE’S BEST-SELLING BOOK, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNIFICANCE.

Obstacles To Receiving

As wonderful as it is to be pleasing to God, as much peace and joy this would bring to our lives, what are our internal obstacles that keep us from raching out and grasping this reality?

  • Addiction to the approval of others. Because other people can give us such approval when we are successful and because we are addicted to obtaining that approval, we often do not want to live only on the approval based on what Christ provided for us. It’s not taht we should not enjoy the approval of others. The problem is when we have to have it in order to live in peace and joy.
  • Sense of hopelessness. A sense of hopelessness can either drive us to depend on God or drive us into passivity. We will never know the victory that God has for us when we are passive. God’s way is for us to actively cooperate with Him.
  • Desire to live life by some formula. Some of us only know our faith as a series of rules or steps. In order for you to experience what Christ has provided through justification, you must receive it through your relationship with Him, not by performing some ritual.
  • Need to control. Most of us have a priority system that goes something like this: air, water, food, control. We can hardly stand not to be in control. However, if we are going to base our worth on what Christ did for us, then we will sense a loss of control.
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Reasons For Obedience

The love of God and His acceptance of us are based on grace. His unmerited favor. They are not based on our ability to impress God through our good deeds. But if we are accepted on teh basis of His grace and not our deeds, why should we obey God? Here are six compelling reasons to obey Him:

  • Christ’s love motivates us to live for Him. Understanding God’s grace compels us to action because love motivates us to please the One who has so freely loved us. When we experience love, we usually respond by seeking to express our love in return. This great motivating factor is missing in many of our lives because we don’t really believe that God loves us unconditionally.
  • Sin is destructive and should be avoided. Satan has effectively blinded man to the painful, damaging consequences of sin. The effects of sin are all around us, yet many continue to indulge in the sex, status- and pleasure-seeking, and rampant self-centeredness that cause much anguish and pain. Sin is pleasant but only for a season. Sooner or later, sin will result in some form of destruction.
  • Our Father lovingly disciplines us for wrongdoing. Our loving Fathe rhas given us the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin. Conviction is a form of God’s discipline and serves as proof that we have become children of God. On the cross, Jesus bor all the punishment we deserve. Therefore, we no longer need to fear punishment from God for our sins. We should seek to do what is right so that our Father will not have to correct us through discipline. But when we are disciplined, we should remember that God is is correcting us in love.
  • His commands for us are good. God’s commands are given for two good purposes: to protect us from teh destructiveness of sin and to direct us into a life of joy and fruitfulness. We have a very wrong perspective if we only view God’s commands as restrictions in our lives. Instead, we must realize that His commands are guidelines given us so that we might enjoy life to the fullest. Obedience to God’s commands should never be considered as a m eans to gain His approval.
  • We will receive ethernal rewards for obedience. Through Christ’s payment for us on the cross, we have escaped eternal judgement. However, our actions will be judged at the judgement seat of Christ. There, our performance will be evaluated and rewards presented for service to God. Rewards will be given for deeds that reflect a desire to honor Christ. But deeds performed in an attempt to earn God’s acceptance, earn the approval of others, or meet our own standards will be rejected by God and consumed by fire.
  • Christ is worthy of our obedience. Our noblest motivation for serving Christ is simply that He is worthy of our love and obedience. Christ is worthy of our affection and obedience. There is no other person, no goal, no fame or status, and no materil possession that can compare with Him. The more we understand His love and majesty, the more we will praise Him and desire that He be honored at the expense of everything else.

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