Evidence
That You are the Christian that You Claim to Be
In a recent
article, I asked readers, ‘What is the motivating force in YOUR
life?’ The motivating force in your life
should be your love for the God who saved you.
It is easy to say that your love for God is what motivates you to live
your life the way you do; but, can you provide evidence that your love
for God is the controlling factor in your life?
Evidence that God is the
motivating and controlling force in your life can be found in these areas:
OBEDIENCE.
Psalm 119:2 says, ‘Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that
seek him with their whole heart.’
This is easy
to say, but more difficult to actually do.
Are you doing the things that God says to do? And, how could you even know what God says to
do if you are not seeking Him wholeheartedly?
You have to put effort into obedience.
This requires Bible study on a daily basis. It requires that you meditate on God’s words
and how to apply His teachings to your life.
As a Christian you are no longer free to choose your own way, your own
thoughts, or your own pleasures. Isaiah
58:13-14 says,
‘If thou turn
away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and
call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor
him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking
thine own words:
Then shalt
thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
This is easy
to read, but it is harder to put into practice.
You will never be perfect at it, but are you even trying?
TRUST.
Proverbs 3:5 says, ‘Trust in the
Lord with all thine heart: and lean not to thine own understanding.
Trust
requires that you go ahead and do the things God says to do even though it may
sometimes be against what your feelings tell you. Feelings are fickle to say the least; and
they lead you astray.
Trust
requires that you go ahead and do the things God says to do even though it may
not appear to be the best thing at the time.
PRAYER. Jeremiah 29:13 says, ‘And ye shall
seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
You are a
work in progress. The more you obey God,
the more you see that doing the things He says to do will always be in your own
best interest. That leads you to trust
God more. Yet, you will still feel the
call of the world to doubt God and disobey Him.
In times of temptation, you should turn to God in prayer. Jeremiah’s encouragement to prayer is to an
unwavering and resolute prayer. In the
midst of whatever struggle you find yourself, seek God with your whole
heart.
The question
eventually becomes, ‘Which do I want more?
Do I want to hang onto my sin?
Or, do I want to get rid of my sin and then present my requests to God
with a clean heart?
JOY. John 15:11 says,
‘these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that
your joy might be full.
Joy in the
Lord is something that the children of the world cannot understand. It does not depend on what is happening in
your life at the moment. Your joy rests
on God’s love for you personally; His loving watch care over you; His promise
to never leave you nor forsake you; and many other good things that come from a
closer walk with the Lord.
DESIRE.
You desire to please God in all that you do. Your heart wants to tell of
God’s love to the lost. As a committed
Christian, you gain a greater understanding each day of the great gulf between
the eternal destination of the lost and the saved. Everyone should have a chance to at least
hear the gospel so they can escape the torment of hell.
Normally I
don’t care for the choruses sung in church today. However, I do like the first line of one that
says, ‘I will serve thee because I love thee.’
This is the heart of the matter.
God loved us more than He loved Himself.
He laid down His life for us. God
can give us the capacity to love Him and love others more than we love
ourselves. Because we love God, we want
to serve Him. Our love for God motivates
us to serve Him. It motivates us to ‘lay
down the life we thought we wanted for the life God wants us to have.’
I would like
to promise you that the life God wants you to have will be a bed of roses from
an earthly point of view. It might be.
It might not be. I know of a
young man who landed on the beach at Normandy June 6, 1944. He did all that was required of him. Then he began carrying the wounded to safety
from that bloody beach. Eventually he
was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
I know he was a Christian man. I
personally talked to two of his comrades.
They said there never was a finer young man. He literally laid down his life for his
friends. I believe that love of God and
of his country was so deeply ingrained in his daily actions that I don’t think
he had any real choice in what he did.
He did his duty and then continued on because of his love and compassion
for others.
Do you think
you would have been a hero that day?
Would you have done more than was required of you? Would you have even done what was required of
you? There is no way to tell. But, we can know that the Hollywood version
of someone with a totally messed up life saving the day when the chips are down
is NOT going to happen. If you want to
be the one who pleases God when the chips are down, you have to begin today
showing your love and respect for God, and the people He has put in your
life. You have to treat them like you
want to be treated. Obey God; keep the
commandments; love others the way God loves them whether they deserve it or
not. This is possible when you desire to
please God more than you desire to please yourself.
Now, what was
the end of the young man who died 6/6/44?
Because he was a Christian, he went straight into the arms of God. Most of us will not be called to face such a
situation. We are called to die to self
daily. We are called to lay down our
lives in order to do the things of God.
We don’t know what will happen to us if we let the love of God be the
motivating force in our lives. We don’t
know if we will live a long and blessed life, or have a life that is cut short
like the young man who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. In the end, death is certain regardless of
the length of our days. And, after death
comes the judgment.
For the
Christian, eternal life is secured. But,
to hear ‘Well Done!’ from God is not. That is determined by how we live our
lives now. It is time to do a reality
check in your own life. (I did one on my
own life already. The results are ‘needs
improvement.) Do you see obedience to God’s teachings in all that you do? Do you see your trust in God growing? Do you see your prayer life growing? Do you see your heart as more tender and
repentant than it was just a short time ago?
Do you see yourself having joy even in heartache? Do you see your desire to please God growing? Do you see your desire for God’s company
growing? Do you see your desire to tell the way of salvation to the lost
growing? These things provide evidence
that God is the motivating force in all that you do.
The song for
this article is ‘Brighten the Corner Where You Are’. Often we are waiting for an opportunity to do
a great deed. That opportunity may never
come. Actually, hopefully, it won’t ever
come. Remember the young man on Omaha
Beach on D-Day? He had the opportunity
to do a great deed. He did it. He wound up in heaven really fast. Just be faithful where you are to do things
God requires of you. You won’t be sorry.
Thank you for
reading my article.
Barbara
Henderson
‘Brighten the
Corner Where You Are’
Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Refrain
Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!
Just above are clouded skies that you may help to clear,
Let not narrow self your way debar;
Though into one heart alone may fall your song of cheer,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Refrain
Here for all your talent you may surely find a need,
Here reflect the bright and Morning Star;
Even from your humble hand the Bread of Life may feed,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Refrain
Links to my blog and my books on
Amazon
