Line up your life

God is not the author of confusion

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

     For the past few days I have been writing about the minor prophets of the Bible. I'll probably get back to that in a few days, but today, I want to talk about who God is, despite our self-centered opinions and despite the popular consensus in the main stream media. Too often, people fool themselves into believing that God is their buddy or that they have a deal worked out with Him. That is a very foolish place to be, because that is a very one sided deal, with God, the creator of everything and everyone, not having His will in a person's life.
     God is deity. God controls the circumstances that happen in our lives based on what we surround ourselves with. If we smoke, God allows a thing like cancer or emphazema to come into our bodies because of our disobedience to His command to not destroy the temple of God; the body. Now, that is not to say that everyone with cancer or emphazema has those conditions due to disobedience like smoking. (I realize that I am stepping on toes here. Bare with me).
     God allows things that we put before Him in our lives to be the thing that usually does us in. If a couple is permiscuous, then the Lord can allow a STD or unplanned pregnancy to come upon them for their disobedience in not presenting our bodies a living sacrifice unto Him. I also realize that not every STD is due to promiscuity. Blood transfusions have been known to spread them as well. And not every unplanned pregnancy is due to promiscuity. Some women are physically abused. I get that. (As I said before, bare with me.)
     Those reading this who may fall within the topics that I have brought up, whose circumstance is due to unrighteousness, get this. That doesn't have to define who you are today. The Bible says, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." That means that you have an opportunity to strive to be who God designed you to be every day that you wake up on this side of heaven.
     I know what some of you are thinking. "R. Douglass, you have sin in your life too. You have no right judging anyone." That statement is true. But let's examine the verse, "Judge not lest ye be judged." Anyone can use that verse to justify their sin and say that I have no right to point that stuff out to anyone. What is judging?
     If I were to come up behind my wife and wrap my arms around her and tell her that she looks wonderful in that dress, isn't that judging? It is. If I were to tell a co-worker that they did a good job and were a great example for other employees in the workplace, wouldn't that be judging? It is.
     When I go up to a woman at church and tell her that her daughter is a disgrace for allowing her boyfriend to get her pregnant out of wed-lock, then I have just condemned her daughter. I have no right to do that. But if I were a pastor, or a teacher, or minister, or just a friend in a church and I find out that a woman's daughter had just gotten pregnant from her boyfriend out of wed-lock and I offer to minister to that family about the example that God has called us to be to the world, and I offer help to the family in the way of counseling, Christian doctors, help with food and diapers when the baby is born, then I have judged positively and not condemningly.
     Let us not be confused, God is not mocked. Whatsoever you sew, therefore you will also reap. God is exact and clear in His word as to what will happen when we disobey him. But the judging that the verse refers to, is toward Christians. We can't tell a lost woman that she is a disgrace to the church because she got pregnant out of wed-lock. The lost woman got pregnant out of wed-lock because she is lost and not in God's will. We can't tell a new Christian that either, because maybe they just haven't learned about that part of godliness yet.
     I heard a story about a couple in Oklahoma who had just joined a church and had just gotten saved. Everyone there assumed that they were married. It wasn't until they were there for quite a while that they heard the preacher talking about fornication and having relations out of wed-lock. The couple fell under conviction and told their pastor the predicament that they were in, and that they had no idea that they were living in sin. Nobody had ever told them about that. Remember, they were new Christians. The pastor helped them to make things right and the two are still happily married and serving faithfully in the church.
     The verse about judging also goes on to say that whatsoever way you judge someone, you will also be judged. If I judge someone positively by showing them through the kind of love that God has for them that what they did was wrong, then God will do the same for me. If I cast condemnation down on someone because they messed up, then God will do the same for me.
     Some may still say, but what place do you have in telling someone how to live their lives? Well, here is some food for thought. If I tell them with love, and show them in scripture what God says about it, then it isn't me judging them. The word of God will be the conviction that is brought on them. How else will they hear it unless God sends someone to tell them?
     If God sends me, as He sent Jonah to tell Ninevah, that what they are doing is wrong, and I decide not to do it, as Jonah did, then I am securing their condemnation before a perfect God. If I do that then their blood is on my hands and I deserve to be swallowed up as Jonah was.
     If you are a child of God and you love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind, then get in God's word. Read it daily. Ground yourself deep within its pages. Pray to God. Not just at meal time. Take time out to talk to Him every chance you get. My pastor, Rick Neathery, said last night at church, "Show me a person who has nothing but drama in their lives and aren't happy, and I'll show you a person with no prayer life." Prayer is the cornerstone by which the Christian gains his strength from God. Prayer will allow you to hear the Holy Ghost, and will allow Him to guide your steps. Your life will line up in His will through His word. Read your Bible outloud to yourself, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
     Don't let your circumstances from yesterday, or before you knew Christ, define you. If you are in Christ, you are a new creature. Behold, all things are forgotten and all things are new. If you are a Christian, then you are not the same person that you were when you were in sin. Sin no longer has control. Your chains are gone! You've been set free! God has ransomed you and you can conquer your past because you now have victory in Him!
     Learn from your past and don't repeat it. Tell the old person to take a hike, they are dead to you. Live life as though people are watching you if you are a Christian, because you know what? They are. Their chance of salvation may rest in your hands. And if they are in the same boat that you were before you got saved, God can use your experiences to reach them.
     If you are reading this, know that I love you very much. I just love people and I don't like to see anyone suffer if I can give them the encouragement through the word of God to line their lives up with His word and walk in His favor.
R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.