Are We Stoking or Suppressing the Fire of God’s Presence?

“Where there is smoke….there is fire”

One of the fundamental beliefs that we have as Christians is that when we make a decision to receive Christ, the Holy Spirit, the very presence of God, comes to take up residence inside of us.  It is His presence, not church attendance, not giving to the church, not having a momma that went to church, not being a Baptist, Methodist or Lutheran that identifies us as being a Christian.

As God enters a life, we often look for a change in behavior as the evidence that something has taken place. But the change we look for is often the ceasing of what we consider negative behavior. Maybe someone stops smoking or drinking or cursing or hanging out in bars. But the Bible teaches us to look for the “God-like” changes in a person to see the activity of God in their life. Look at the following passages and see if you recognize a theme…

Luke 3 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” 11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”

12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”

14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Isaiah 1 16  “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,  17  Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow

Not only is there a call for repentance and a ceasing of behavior that is ungodly, but a call to do, a call to follow in God’s footsteps to perform acts of righteousness and love. Too often in our version of Christianity we only emphasize the first half of that equation don’t do the bad things.

I was reminded this past week of something that I have heard in many churches “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t run with those who do”.  That pretty much sums up what we have taught people for years. Yet if we are brutally honest with the Bible, taking a drink is not in itself a sin. The Bible tells us explicitly don’t get drunk, but there is no prohibition against consuming alcohol. As for smoking, we may not like it (I don’t), but again there is no Biblical prohibition against it. People have said that it is bad for you, well so is a latte from Starbucks (14 grams of fat and 22g of carbs) and a Big Mac from McDonald’s. People have said that smoking is addictive, so is caffeine… and by the way, have you ever tried to take away NFL football or NASCAR away from men… don’t tell me that they are not addicted! Yet I don’t hear the cry to ban drinking Starbucks or stop watching football.

The point here is that we are majoring only on the first part of our full Christian experience. Yes we are to end certain ungodly behaviors, but the Bible tells us, and Jesus’ own words direct us. to that next part.  The things we are supposed to become because of the presence of God within us.  What is that first and greatest commandment?  To quit sinning? To go to church?  It is a positive command, love God with all that you have.

Now, think for a moment about the presence of God that is within you. The Holy Spirit is residing inside of you, the presence of the Holy God of Heaven is burning in your heart.  He is Holy, without sin, all-powerful, all-loving, full of grace and truth, able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think. That is the fire. The Bible often describes the presence of God with the image and feel of fire.

Hebrews 12 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

God is meant to be unleashed in your life, taking in and working through each part of your life.

Jeremiah 23 29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

God’s truth works in us, molding, shaping, consuming our thoughts (taking every thought captive as the Scripture says).

Malachi 3 2  “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap.  ³ He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi,  And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.

God’s presence should cleanse us from sin. Because we battle the flesh and the flesh wars against the Spirit in us, we will never live the rest of our lives sin free. But the presence of God within us can refine us, burning away the stain of sin.

God’s presence is the fire in our lives, our life, the fruit of our Christian life is the smoke… it is the evidence that the fire is burning.  When we truly love our neighbors, love our enemies, give to the poor, share the gospel with the lost, care for those in need, don’t return evil for evil, offer genuine praise to the Lord, stand unashamed of the name of Jesus… smoke rises from our lives, the smell of the Holy Spirit burning in us is a fragrance to the world.

In Isaiah, the prophet sees God in the temple….

Isaiah 6 1  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. ² Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”  ⁴ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

God Himself was the fire, His presence was indicated by smoke.  Just like us, the presence of God in our lives should make something rise from our lives. As we grow in the Lord, our fire should grow wider and higher and burn hotter than ever before.

It is that focus, on the presence of God, that we can often overlook. We are trying to produce smoke without fire, without the burning of God’s presence in our lives.  In the church, when someone seems to be really loving God and serving God, someone would say “they are really on fire for the Lord”. But what we are really saying is that they are allowing the fire of God’s presence to produce a lot of smoke.

So if God’s presence is a burning fire within us, how is it that not everyone produces the smoke, the evidence of His presence?  A better question is how do we suppress fire?

The first thing we have to realize is that you only try to suppress a fire that you cannot put out.  Think about that for a moment… no one, nothing, can extinguish the fire of God’s presence. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much the world may fight against it, God is not going away, and He cannot be put out.  John T. Elson wrote an article in Time magazine in the 1960’s asking “Is God dead?”.  God is not a person you can kill or an idea you can disprove, His presence is eternal, forever, and without end.

The second thing to think about is that we suppress what we don’t want. If, for some reason, we don’t want to allow God’s presence to burn brightly in our lives, then we will suppress His presence.

There are basically two key strategies that firefighters use when trying to suppress a wildfire that is out of their control.

1) Create a fireline. A fireline is an area that is cut, soaked or dug out so that the fire will be contained behind the line.  Spiritually a fireline would be places in our lives that we ignore God’s presence, cutting lines in our lives so that God will not influence our behavior or thinking. Maybe we don’t allow God to influence our social life- we hang out with the wrong people because we like to get drunk on Friday nights, have sex when we want to or don’t want to feel left out when other people are partying on the weekend. Maybe we leave God out of our workplace where we fight to climb our way to the top. We may treat others with contempt, we may tell a few lies to make ourselves look better, or cheat a little on our records to give the boss a favorable impression. These “firelines” are our way of not allowing the fire of God’s presence to take over. It is our way of trying to control God’s work in our lives. While to us it may seem like a way of maintaining “balance”, these things rob us of experiencing the full Christian life.

2) Starve the fire of fuel. Firefighters will try to take away grasses, brush or other sources of fuel for the fire.  This is what a controlled burn is for- to get in front of a fire and use up the fuel while maintaining control of the blaze. When the wildfire approaches the area, it has no fuel to burn, so it is contained. From what I have seen of today’s church, this is where many are. We play at a little controlled fire- we come to church, we may pray a little, we listen to a sermon or Bible study lesson, we may even do a little service- just enough to satisfy our religious diet, while not allowing the true presence of God to emerge. We don’t really allow God to burn deep in our heart and spread wide into our life and community, we actually starve the fire by consuming our relationship with God in religious exercises that we call Christianity. These are the people that won’t make any great sacrifice to love others, serve the needy, share Christ- but they want to be seen in the church, hold a title in the church, complain about the pastor or others, just enough to look spiritual.

God’s presence in our life does not need to be suppressed, but like any good fire we want to grow and to last, it needs to be stoked. When you stoke a fire, you intentionally get it to burn higher and hotter than before.  The world needs less religion and more of  the presence of God. That presence He has packaged in His church, the people of God to whom He has entrusted His presence. If the world lacks the overwhelming presence of God, if evil seems to be running wild, then the church is the one responsible for releasing the presence of God, the fire of God’s love, grace, mercy, holiness and power onto the world. The fire of God’s presence should burn brightly in the world, but like in the Sermon on the Mount, we have put our light under a basket, trying to hide it behind our flesh or the four walls of the church building. The Bible tells us that we are to intentionally focus on God’s presence in our lives and allow God to work through us, to produce the smoke of His presence…

Jeremiah 20   9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.”  But His word was in my heart like a burning fire  Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back,  And I could not.

Acts 18   5   When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

Matthew 5    16   Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

1 John 1     ⁵ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

One of my favorite passages is the story of the two travelers who Jesus approached on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. As they walked and talked He explained the Scriptures to them and the truth of His sacrifice and resurrection. After Jesus disappears, listen to how they describe their experience with Him…

Luke 24    ³⁰ Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.   ³² And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

I long for that experience each and every day, that God’s presence would burn inside of me. That I would stoke that fire, concentrate upon allowing the smoke of His presence to rise through every area of my life.

Lord, burn brightly within us. May the heat of your presence make us aware each moment that it is your presence within us that can make our life all that you desire it to be. All of the things we do and all the attitudes we have that suppress your fire, may that all be burned away to allow the world to see your light shine through us.

Is recession any match for the Kingdom of God?

I was reading my Bible a few days ago when this verse arrested my attention….

Matthew 12:28
But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

In this passage Jesus was having a lively discussion with the Pharisees about whether or not He was from God or the Devil. Interesting because Jesus would call the Pharisees sons of the Devil. But what hit me about this verse is the last phrase, “the Kingdom of God has come upon you”.

Think for a moment about the model prayer that Jesus taught His disciples… “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven”.  That phrase has been a mystery for many. How do we pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth?  How do we get the Kingdom to show up on earth?  In these days of financial crisis, foreclosure, unemployment, H1N1 flu…how do we fulfill this prayer?  In modern terms we would say, “OK, what do I need to do to get this done?”

What did Jesus do right before He said that the Kingdom had come?  He was casting demons and healing someone…

Matthew 12
²² Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. ²³ And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

He drove out demons. He caused a blind man to see. He caused a mute man to speak. He was exercising His authority to destroy evil, to conquer pain and to overcome the world which lies under sway of the evil one. Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to bear upon the earth, not in the nice places or in the comfortable confines of air-conditioning and a padded pew. He brought it to bear where the world hurts. Then He announced to everyone, what you have seen here is the Kingdom of God at work. Does the world hurt today?  Obviously yes. Then where is the Kingdom at work and how do we make it work?

The bringing of the Kingdom was what He sent out His disciples to do with the power that He gave them…

Luke 10
¹ After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. ² Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. ³ Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves…. ⁸ Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. ⁹ And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.’ ¹² But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city.

When He sent out the disciples (and note it is not the 12 but “others” who were part of the crowd that followed Him), He told them

1) There are a lot of people that can be won to the Kingdom and they are ready, but only a few people to do the work

2) The world is not necessarily a friendly place to do this work, there will be wolves out there, much like we face today

3) But go to the people, heal them, minister to them, and tell them the Kingdom is here.

4) Again..there are going to be people that reject you, your work, and your message.

5) Take heart though, God will know what you have done and hold them accountable for rejecting the Kingdom

Twice He tells them that ministry will be tough. But twice He tells them to remind the people they encounter that the Kingdom of God has come to them.  But what are they going to do so that people will know the Kingdom has come near?  What evidence will they provide?  They will heal the sick. They will minister to people who are in need. Jesus sort of said it this way, “the well have no need of a physician… I have come to heal, to help, to share, to give hope, to establish a relationship with the Father… to those who are in need.”

You don’t have to look hard to find those in need. The world is “full” of the emptiness that needs create. With recession in full swing, do you sense the emptiness of our world who is suffering from panic, worry, stress, pain, frustration, hopelessness?  Suicide rates are up. Domestic violence incidents are up. Homeless rates are up. The class of working poor is growing. When Jesus walked the earth, He met those people head on. He walked among the hurting. He ate with the outcast. And He brought the Kingdom of God to them…and He expects us to do the same today.

Let’s ask a question of ourselves… can we, as the church, say to the world today, “The Kingdom has come near to you”?

Think about the power of that statement. The Kingdom of God has come to bear on the life of people who are separated from God, hurting in this world, pained physically and emotionally—that is incredibly powerful. Think about what Romans 14 says, that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Could the world you live in use a little more righteousness?  I think yes. Could the people that you know use more peace in their life?  Most definitely.  Does the world have enough joy?  Not yet.

Imagine today that the church, God’s people who bear the banner of His Kingdom, would be known as people who bring righteousness, peace and joy to the world. Do you think we might reach a few more people?  Would Christians be more energized if we thought of ourselves as people bringing something to the world that is positive, a blessing?

Much of the message that we have followed in the church has been, as my seminary professor was fond of saying, “do” commands. While we seem to be fond of telling people what to do, many in the church are uncomfortable being in the position of the proverbial Catholic school nun (I apologize if any of you reading this are Catholic school nuns).  When the world does something wrong it is our job to whack them on the knuckles with our spiritual ruler.  A lot of us don’t like the thought of hitting people with a ruler… well there are some people….

The difference is that instead of playing moral police with the world, we bring the blessings of the Kingdom to the world. I like that approach much better. It seems more the way Jesus approached the lost and the hurting. Yes He preached righteousness, but that righteousness was not supposed to make us mean, miserable and overbearing.

As I read the gospels, Jesus uses the righteousness of the Kingdom to beat back evil rather than beating people. Jesus was aggressive when it came to battling evil and replacing it with the fullness of the Kingdom. I John 3:8 says…

⁸ For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus, as He brought the Kingdom to the world, overcame evil. The verse says that He came to destroy the works of the devil. Don’t tell me your picture of Jesus is of this mild, effeminate 98-lb weakling.  Far from it. He conquered evil. He cured disease. He cast out demons. He rose from the grave. Listen, He kicked the Devil in the teeth, looked at Him and said, “want some more, come get it”.

If we are to bring the Kingdom to earth, to our day, we have to be about the business of beating back the evils of our world. The Bible tells us not to be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21). In many ways the church seems to be hiding from evil. We insulate ourselves from “others” and we isolate our work within the walls of the church. How can you bring the Kingdom to earth if we never touch those who are outside of our family and outside our walls?

I am excited about something the church I attend, Burnt Hickory Baptist Church, is doing called Inside Out. It is simply planning and giving people opportunities to go out into the community and serve- at schools, on the street, to the homeless, to the hurting.  The testimonies of those who have been served and among the people who have served really has been inspirational.  You don’t have to have a seminary degree to figure out that God has placed the Kingdom within us (Luke 17:20-21) so that we can pour it out into our world. That is bringing the Kingdom to earth.

But there are many evils in this world that Christians can play a larger role in…

* There are hundreds of thousands of kids that are in need of foster homes and to be adopted. Many of these kids have suffered from all kinds of evils, and need the love of God to overcome them. God is particularly interested in “being a father to the fatherless” and “placing the lonely in families” (Read Exodus 22:22-24, Psalm 68:5-6 or search “fatherless” in your favorite Bible software).
* Serve at your local domestic violence shelter. One of the most impactful times of ministry I have ever had was sharing a meal at a domestic violence shelter, sitting with a woman who’s face was swollen black and blue while she fed her little girl. I could not help but think, if Jesus were in this city, He would be here.

The list could go on and on. The point is, the church is not meant to soak in the blessings of God, but to pour them out on those in need. You don’t have to look long or hard to find needs… just don’t leave them the way you found them. Bring the Kingdom to them. Yes there will be opposition and rejection, but that is why we have to overcome evil.   Overcome evil with good.  You can, because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Revelation 12
⁹ So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. ¹¹ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Have we confused preferences with righteousness?

My rights. My choices. My vote. My voice. My opinion.

Do these things sound familiar in our culture?  We have groups in our cutlure who are screaming for their voice and views to be heard. We have gay rights, womens rights and labor unions promoting worker rights. We have disenfranchised voters, minority groups, and political parties. We have a media that is run on polls, a web full of blogs promoting personal views and preferences. Expressnig our opionion, no matter how ridiculous or off beat it may be,  has become a personal cross for many people.

Do we also see these same concepts at work in the church?  You don’t have to be around the church long  before you see the same things taking place. Preference seems to be the order of the day within the workings of the church, just like you see in our society.  Ask any worship leader, do people have musical preferences? He will laugh…or cry, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.  Ask any church treasurer, do people have preferences on how the church money is spent?  He might have a panic attack, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.  Ask any pastor who is trying to do something new in a church, do church people have preferences?  He might ball up in the fetal position, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.

So, what’s the big deal? Everyone has preferences, right?

The big deal is that in the church we often confuse our preferences with righteousness. Our preferences have become our standard. The only one who’s preferences are perfect and right is God… and none of us are Him. Let’s take a look at these two concepts.

Preference-

The selecting of someone or something over another or others.

The right or chance to so choose or make personal choices

Righteousness-

holy and upright living, in accordance with God’s standard. The word “righteousness” comes from a root word that means “straightness.” It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept. God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 9:14). Therefore, the righteousness of human beings is defined in terms of God’s standards. Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson’s illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

Now, let’s ask again, what is the big deal about preferences? The problem comes when we confuse our personal choices with the morality of God’s perfect character. In other words, “I like” equals “God likes”.  We might say it another way, if I don’t like a certain style, a certain song, a certain way of doing things… then obviously God does not like it either. Worse yet, sometimes people don’t even take into account whether or not God likes it, the only things we care about is that I like or don’t like it.

Some may still be asking, what’s wrong with that?

Let’s take some time to look forward, to the day that we will all face our Lord. Now imagine yourself bowing before Jesus and breaking out into song (with all respect to Frank Sinatra)….

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
“Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way”

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Now imagine Jesus’ reaction to you… does He applaud?…does He laugh?….does He have a quizzical look on His face? or is He saddened by your thought that doing it your way was so important to you?

When Jesus walked the earth, He made it clear that what He did, what He spoke and the plan that He was fulfilling was not a matter of choice, but a matter of following the Father’s direction. Listen to these words…

John 8   ²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” ³⁰ As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Simply put, you cannot always do the things that please God, as Jesus did,  and choose all of your preferences at the same time.  Something has to give. Someone has to back off of their “side”. Unfortunately the same thing that is said of God is often said of us- “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)  God does not change, in character, in love, in righteousness. Some of us are the same, we never adjust to follow God, we just have our ways and our opinions and that is just the way it is.

When we refuse to bend to God’s rightousness and yet still want to feel right with God, we are left with only one choice– To create God in our own image.  We don’t want to change to be like God, so we change God to be like us. As we mentioned before, God likes what I like, thinks like I think, hates what I hate, tolerates what I tolerate, excuses what I excuse and is happy about what I am happy about…. all the time.

Let’s bring this down to a practical level…

1) In worship…. if we emphasize our preferences:  fight to have the kind of music we like, refuse to sing a song because we don’t like the tune, only give an offering when we feel like it in the amount we want to give, criticize those who don’t dress like we think they should, complain when the service “runs over”…. when we fight to get it our way, who is the worship service really about?  That would be us. When we exercise and enforce our preferences, it stops being about God and starts being about us. Last time I checked God still had the idea that He, and He alone, was worthy of worship and that worship, imagine this, is supposed to be to Him, for Him and about Him.

I was reminded of something this week, which caused me to rewrite this part of the blog. Check out Hebrews 10:19-25. It spells out the priorities that God has set for worship…

* Enter into God’s presence… on His terms, through the person of Jesus Christ

* Draw near to God… not through your presence in church, but through faith. I don’t draw near to God by following man made rules or preferences, but by humbly approaching God in reverence and awe.

* Have your heart clean…you can’t worship on your terms with your sin filling you, be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ

* Believe… worship is loving God, trusting that He really is as awesome, wonderful, powerful and merciful as He says He is. Faith is not having my wishes fulfilled, it is humbling believing that God has the right to have His way.

* Stir up one another for good works… Here is the killer- if we are enforcing our personal preferences on everyone else, are we really considering anyone besides ourselves?  Are we stirring anyone up to love God more and serve Him more willingly?  No. In fact, whether we realize it or not, our constant complaint and unhappiness because we are not getting our way often makes those around us spiritually miserable and emotionally drained.

* Keep at it…don’t forsake gathering together, even if there is something there you don’t like. Can you imagine what would happen if God took that attitude?  What if God decided not to show up because we were doing something He did not like…let’s ask a simple question, if you are not invited to the party, do you show up?  If worship is about you, God is not invited and He does not share top billing with anyone…

2) Serving God

We are called to serve God “acceptably” (Heb 12:28). If there is an acceptable way to serve God, who gets to set the standards for service? Does the servant tell the Master how he is going to serve?  Does the employee tell the boss what he will and will not do?  Can you imagine walking into your bosses office and telling them, “I know you want me to do this project this way, but I have decided that I am going to do it this way”.  You might be employed at the end of the day, but just barely.

God can call us to do anything He wishes. Anything. Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God says, that when you call Jesus Lord, you give Him the right to your life anytime He wishes.  Somewhere along the way, we have come to believe that serving God is for our pleasure and at our pleasure, God should be happy to accept whatever I decide to give Him… and I will be righteous for it. Friends, we can’t do what we want and then demand that God bless us and give us good standing with Him.

So what is the proper place for our preferences?

First of all, they are subject to God’s commands and character. I can’t say, “well I am just that way”, and expect God to be happy. He calls us all to change and adjust ourselves to His ways and His heart. A preference does not override a command. The problem is we are very aware of our preferences, but often unaware of God’s commands.

Secondly, realize that preferences work within the framework of God’s commands and character. God created each of us as individuals, as such no two of us are completely alike.  God makes it that way and likes it that way. But He expects you to use your individuality to serve Him, not use our individuality to enforce our individuality.

Thirdly, preferences are meant to work with God and with others. We have taken preferences to new heights in importance, seeking to place them above others and God. God has designed the body to work with each other and compliment each other. If your perference is hindering the work of the body, then it is not a matter of everyone changing to adjust to you, but you suppressing your preference for the greater good.

Lord, you have made us all individuals, and we are greater that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. But we confess we have taken our individuality too far, and forsake many of your commands and sacrificed your body, your church, in our pursuit of our own preferences. Forgive us where we have lacked obedience to your ways, where we have confused our preferences with your righteousness. Bless your work within us Lord and help us to be more and more aware of how you wish us to live.