It seems that we live in a time where authority is rejected and even despised. For people today, there is no universal truth to which all people must answer. This isn't something new: self is authoritative. People don't choose to hold beliefs because they match what really exists and is true; instead, people have their beliefs and hold them tightly ultimately because they see themselves as the authority, because they are the ones who have the right and the freedom to accept and d0 whatever they want. Self is king.
Since this individualism is so rampant and the self is the arbitrator of what truth is for the individual, so-called "tolerance" reigns today. You have your beliefs and I have mine--and we each have the RIGHT and FREEDOM to believe what we want.
This makes talking with others about significant, important, and eternal things so difficult: since I am king and choose what to believe, it is nonsense and inappropriate for you to exhort me to accept your views. And so if I am my own authority even God and His Bible have no right to tell me what I need to believe.
When God claims in His Word that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life and that no one comes to Him but through Christ (John 14:6) and that Jesus is the only name under heaven by which man is saved (Acts 4:12), our response is something like, "I don't believe that" or "I believe that there are other ways" (as if what I believe determines what is God's truth) OR "That's your interpretation and believe it means this" (as if the message of the Gospel is not clear, is not from God Himself, and is up for grabs).
God--the Creator, Ruler, Person in Control over Everything, One who Loves Us, One Whose Word is Truth--has the rightful place of authority over what we believe and over all of our lives. He is the Judge and to Him we must answer. It is irresponsible of us to reject what this true and living God has to say and not accept Him as our authority. Some day, God (according to His Word) will punish sin and condemn sinners who have not trusted in Christ as the One Who has taken their sin and punishment and provided them with a true relationship with the Father. We (believers), too, are making choices for which we will have to answer before the God who will repay us for our actions (2 Corinthians 5:10). He is the Judge and Has the Rightful Place as Authority over our beliefs and actions.
So, who is my master? Who is my authority? Who decides for me or you what is truth, what is right and wrong, and how to conduct our lives? Ought it not be God and His Bible?
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Jacob, when you spoke of the right and the freedom that some exercise to reject God, well that is more common in the world than those who choose Christ.
ReplyDeleteTheir freedom is a lie just as the lie of Satan as he told Eve “surely you will not die” and he has been lying ever since. He is the master of deception, so as he lies to the lost, the freedom they choose is in reality the chains that bind. He is a harsh task master and when you’re at the very bottom with spirit broken, he heaps on more load for you to carry.
He is also the accuser of the saints, so beware of whose voice you listen to. As we hear and listen to his voice and we become offended by parents, family, friends, pastors, co-workers and even the lost…. we loose the ability to love, help or reach those God has sent us to. The lie is alive in Christians as well if…… we follow the wrong voice unaware of the spiritual battles that exist around us. As we ignore those lies... we create room for miracles to happen.
When Jacob said: "We (believers), too, are making choices for which we will have to answer before the God… truer words were never spoken."
Never take offence and pay attention to whose voice you listen to.