Beware of Kilogram Christianity

scalesI have found a way to lose over 50% of my body weight immediately.  I don’t have to eat a special diet or engage in grueling exercise.  I don’t have to take pills, spend $500 on extremely small portioned meals mailed directly to my home, or spend hours in front of my TV working out to the latest exercise DVD.

All I have to do to reduce my body weight by 50% immediately is to stop weighing myself in pounds and instead weigh myself in kilograms.  There are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram.   A 200 lbs man weighs 90.7 kg.  No, I haven’t lost my mind, I know that 90.7 kg = 200 lbs, and I know that my weight in kg = my weight in lbs. Changing the standard of measurement does not change the reality of the weight.

How many times, however, do we think we are so much leaner spiritually because we measure ourselves with the wrong standard, when the reality is that we are spiritually out of shape?  We look around and see that we act better than most folks around us and think we are in good shape.  The problem with that measurement is that others are not the standard by which we are to measure ourselves, God’s Word is.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The devil has won a tremendous battle in believers’ lives by keeping us from the Bible.  Do you treat worship as though it is optional and escape the penetrating preaching of the Word.  Do you neglect small group Bible study and avoid the tenacious teaching of the Word.  Do you rarely pick up your Bible lest you stumble upon some convicting truth that forces you to deal with your unhealthy spiritual condition?

We are in desperate spiritual condition because we have grown comfortable with the comparison of ourselves to others who are not as “spiritual” as we think we are, when an honest look into God’s Word will perform spiritual surgery even in the heart of the best among us.  We easily and loudly lament our culture’s abandonment of the Biblical principles upon which our founders established our country, yet we are reluctant to let the Word of Christ pierce into the inner chambers of our heart.

What are you doing to measure yourself by God’s standard? Do you regularly read, study, and meditate on the Bible? Do you let God’s truth, revealed in the Bible provide both the framework and fabric for your life? All other standards of measurement leave us sorely lacking.

The Dangerous Word of God

The Bible is a dangerous book.  It touches places in our lives no other medium can reach. It cuts through our public veneer and with pinpoint accuracy addresses deeply rooted heart issues. The Bible’s very words are the breath of God himself and its truths have the power to transform the messiest of lives.  Taken seriously and studied with an open heart and mind, the Bible will not leave the student the same as he or she came to it.

As dangerous as God’s word is, it is even more essential.  The Bible cleanses us, transforms us, educates us, and equips us.  The word of God is food for our soul and without it we suffer spiritual malnourishment and find ourselves weak and useless to the King and His Kingdom.  We can read books about the Bible and we can watch movies based on the Bible, but there is no substitute for opening those powerful pages and in the quietness of our soul hearing a word directly to us from God himself.

So, my question is what are you doing with God’s word?  You may tote a copy around, talk about what you think is in it, dabble with it, pretend to know it, but are you systematically and humbly reading, studying, meditating on, and applying it?

God’s word will change your life.  Or is THAT what YOU are afraid of?  There is no substitute and no shortcut for immersing your life in God’s Word on a regular basis.  What are you waiting for?


All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12

Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk,so that you may grow by it for your salvation… – 1 Peter 2:2

How to Make Better Decisions – Part 2

So what practical help is available for making better decisions?  Consider this passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

Ask, and it will be given to you; 
seek, and you will find; 
knock, and it will be opened to you. – Matthew 7:7

Jesus provided three clear steps we can follow that open up God’s wisdom for us.

 ASK.  A believer with an active prayer discipline naturally makes better decisions because he is vitally connected to the only true source of wisdom.

 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, 
who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. – James 1:5

We cannot overestimate the value of an ongoing daily time of prayer and connection with God.

SEEK.  

We have a reliable, trustworthy, and authoritative source to lead us in our decision making quest:  God’s Word.  The Bible has every principle we need to form our thinking, attitudes, and perspectives.

All Scripture is breathed out by God 
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, 
and for training in righteousness, 
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Regularly read, study, and memorize God’s Word and you will be “complete and equipped for every good work.”

KNOCK.

God does not write instructions on paper and mail them to us, nor does He text us or email us with specific directions.  Once we have prayed and sought God’s direction in His Word, we eventually have to step out in faith to realize the benefit of His wisdom.  

When Joshua led God’s people into the Promised Land, the water did not part until AFTER they stepped into the water.

Wisdom has no shortcuts.  Pray, saturate your life in God’s Word, and move in faith.  You will look back at a track record of much wiser decisions.