BY GREG CRUM
“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” John 5:44
People pleasers live a miserable quality of life. It’s a sad life, and I’ve seen it often, even among brothers and sisters in the Lord who struggle in an attempt to juggle unrealistic family, work and social expectations. Jesus offers us a solution to the unwinnable game of making everyone happy. The solution? Love God first and foremost, and let the chips fall where they may.
Remember Jesus’ words concerning loving him more than natural family? There’s more than one revelation in those words, but part of that understanding is the freedom in ceasing to be pleasers of men. When you stop living life to be loved by others, you’re free to obey God explicitly, and many times can better experience the love of God.
Last week we continued to ponder the absoluteness of our Lord. As we read through the Gospels, we see that Jesus was the most absolute man that ever lived. There was never any wishy-washy wavering with Jesus. No “sort of” or “maybe” with him. He was absolute in his thoughts, speech and deeds. This was a secret to his success as a “son of man” when he lived among us. It was how he could contact Heaven so readily, and receive God’s will in manifestation so effectively.
The lesson? Jesus is our pattern, our blueprint to living life. If he was absolute in his thoughts, beliefs, words and deeds, we should be as well. Do you want to contact Heaven readily and receive God’s will effectively? Be like our Lord, be more absolute in your thoughts, words and deeds.
We left off last week stating that if we are going to be more absolute in our lives, we must overcome the primary obstacles in that path that would hinder us. There are a few common reasons believers today are less absolute than they should be, the first of which is ignorance of God’s mind in matters both great and small. Too many Christians don’t know what they should know about God. Some believers can’t speak with definitiveness concerning important issues today because they don’t know what God thinks about those things.
This should never be an issue in our generation. We have access to the mind of God through the Scriptures, and we can know what He desires. If it is written in the Bible that He holds a certain position on x, y or z, we should too, period.
Another reason some people don’t live life from an absolute perspective is, as mentioned earlier, they live to please men. You can’t be definitive in your beliefs if you are trying to live like a politician and please all your constituency.
Why? You know why. People living today hold few opinions in common, even in our area. If you say you firmly believe this or that on an issue you risk losing “friends,” real or of the social media type.
From long ago we were warned in the Word of God that “Fear of man bringeth a snare.” (Proverbs 29:25) Living the life of moral compromise is a trap you won’t escape. Our solution is to side with God and lose whatever relationships are necessary to live from that position of absolute faith.
Finally, a third reason some people are not absolute is because they are caught up living a lie. These are the people that must live compromised lives in order to cover their tracks. Brothers and sisters, this isn’t an option for the believer. I John 1:6-7 states that “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” We can’t truly live absolutely, and in relationship and fellowship with Jesus, and continually live a lie. This is one reason Satan tries to trap us in addictions, to keep us from the freedom that is associated with a clear conscience and firm convictions.
Friends, there are blessings upon blessings in living like our Savior. Let’s choose to be more like him. Let’s live a life of God’s convictions. Let’s live absolute like our Jesus!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.