Putting God First Isn’t Easy

From the time we were babies we were taught and learned to depend on ourselves, even while we depended on parents and others. Coming into a relationship with God we often have to “UNLEARN” our self-dependency and learn to “LEAN INTO” God’s presence for guidance and values. Becoming a child of God happens when we surrender to Christ’s saving grace.However, learning to walk as a child of God is normally a huge learning curve, especially if you were not raised in a Christian home.

As new believers we can easily learn Christian principles from stories of great believers by reading the Bible or listening to sermons, yet there is so much more to walking with God than learning facts about the past. Reading great books of faith may inspire us but it’s a whole other thing to put what we learned into daily practice. All too often we don’t have people to mentor us in such skills, or disciple us as the scriptures tell us to do. If the church throughout the ages had listened to Jesus’ last command to go into all the world and make disciples I think all of us would be much further along in our Christian faith.

Here is a major problem, we all are different with regards to strong or weak areas in our character, but we all have a common need for God’s transformation in our daily behavior and morals. That doesn’t happen all by ourselves. It has to be a team effort. Such transformation doesn’t happen by accident but by design and that design includes the mentoring of younger believers by those who are more mature. Discipleship is all about the importation of information and experience by others. Discipleship is not just about our own will power and education, it is about a coupling of our desire with the desire and apprenticeship of those with a passion for God and his kingdom.

Our mentoring should include things like learning to be generous and why. It should be learning how and why to show kindness to others and become servants. These are values that take a lifetime to develop, and are hard to keep and maintain. Living in a world that is constantly arguing with our values and our love for God sets the stage for conflict for which many believers are ill prepared and, unfortunately, few succeed at. If we aren’t careful the world will pressure us in various ways to live like they live, which is all too often contrary to the will of God.

Can you imagine how Noah in the book of Genesis felt with all the people around him, who kept pressuring him to change to live like they lived? Scripture says Noah was the only one who found favor in God’s eyes because of his righteous living. For Noah to live for God in such a corrupt world had to be vexing to his soul, yet he relied on God for his strength and devotion.

Genesis 6:8

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

To find favor with God meant Noah had purposed in his heart to do the will of God, not just think about it. So many professing believers talk a good game of righteousness but I fear few truly have learned to walk daily in it. Doing the will of God is about seeking to understand God’s heart and then following though with the will and desire to make those changes happen in us.

How often believers profess one thing but then dishonor God with their hearts desire and actions. So many professing believers today “ASSUME” upon the favor of God because he naturally loves mankind, and yet scripture does not state nor imply that his love makes him soft with regards to what is right and wrong. Being in Christ is often a phrase many of us use to cover up our true condition, claiming to be covered by the righteousness of Christ rather how we live. His favor comes upon us because we have demonstrated our faith and reliance on him, not because we claim an exemption because of Christ. Noah was a man who lived his convictions, not just his desires.

Genesis 6:22

Noah did everything just as God commanded him

Let me close this article on Noah and his devotions and the strength of his character. We are not told in scripture how hard it was for him to preach for 125 years while building the Ark, but that was his story. We are not told how hard it was for him to hear the cries of people dying outside the Ark when the flood waters came and covered the earth, yet he endured such a terrible event. We only have one small passage of scripture that talks about Noah getting drunk. Why is this important? Because we need to see Noah as being like us, not some super saint of the past. We need to see he was a man affected by others and yet he was true to the Lord his God. I think when we read accounts of great saints we can discount them as “OTHER THAN” us and not relevant to our human frailty.

Was Noah dealing with being depressed after the flood? Was he filled with remorse that he didn’t get one convert after preaching so long? I think we was, and that why God put in his word about Noah getting drunk; not as an excuse but because God wants to be transparent about those who have gone before us.

Genesis 9:20-21

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.

When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.

My point is this: living for God and battling the world’s pressures to compromise will take its toll on all of us unless we constantly seek the Lord’s presence and his healing grace. In God’s presence we can find healing for our own souls regardless of what we are going through or have gone through. It is in the place of healing we gain strength to carry on in this life the way we and God desire. Remember that God wants our best, but we have to constantly walk with him for that “BEST” to happen.

May you walk boldly in a wicked and twisted world in all the power of the Lord today and forever.

Questions:

1) Are we truly honest about the pressures the world is having on us? (Nehemiah 9:3) Confession; whether of our sin, or our worry, or our pain, brings healing and restoration.

2) Do you need to see people like Noah as true saints of God who struggled? Seeing strong saints as real people will help us in our own battles to be strong in the Lord.

Love the honesty and transparency of the saints of old,

Pastor Dale