What is God asking you to do? Do you trust Him fully in the situation you are in? Is there something in your life that God is asking you to give up and to step up to become more like Him? These questions and many others have been swimming in my head lately. Why? Because I do have situations in my life where God is testing me. God has been gently peeling away securities so that He can expose me for who I really am and humble me.
When God takes things away that I cling to, is that because He doesn’t love me? No, in fact, He takes those things because He loves me and is making me more like His Son. He is perfecting! God promises in Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” What a wonderful promise! However, I, in my sinful and wicked state, am not satisfied. I want what 1 Peter calls as corruptible things. I want things that are perishable. I do not want God and His precious Word. In Proverbs God calls those who do not want understanding or wisdom (His Word), fools.
Thankfully, God has been working in my heart and using His Word to show me that I need Him and that those corruptible things that I love actually do not satisfy as much as a relationship with Him. I can so easily be satisfied with material things, with comfort, with relationships that seem okay, even my devotions, but yet God is calling me to a higher calling. He wants to give more than I am settling for. He loves His children and has given us a perfect and loving gift. This gift is Christ. This gift is becoming more like His Son who is perfect and has taken our sin away and replaced it with His own righteousness. I need to step up and live a life “sold out” for Christ! That is what Christ’s disciples had to do. They had to take up their cross, die to themselves and follow Christ. The awesome part of that is that Christ already died for them, for me, for the world. What God is telling and compelling us to do as Christians is to live worthy, holy, set apart. It may be a hard road to travel, but God never promised ease. He promises grace. Paul describes this perfectly in II Corinthians 12:9 which says, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
So, daily I have to ask myself, am I satisfied in becoming like Christ? Is His grace enough? And the answer is yes! No matter my failures, my untruthful thoughts, my sinful and wicked heart, deep down I am a child of God and I want to become more like Christ! I may have to step it up, I may have to die to myself, but my result is heavenly. In conclusion, the verse that actually showed me my true heart was in Psalms when David is running from Saul and pleading to God for his safety. At the end of the passage, his prayer actually brought me to tears. Psalm 17:13-15 states “Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: from men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with they hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” David, a man of God! An imperfect man, but yet loved the Lord and was a man after God’s own heart! The step may be steep, but I want to be satisfied with the likeness of Christ!
Beyond the Road Less Traveled 