If you’ve ever been invited to someone’s house, it’s a given that you will act differently than you would in your own home. As the saying goes, you play by house rules. Before you trample their pristine white carpet fully shod, you ask if you should remove your shoes; if they ask whether you’d like something to drink, you wait for them to get it and don’t go rummaging through their fridge, and if they offer you a place to sit you don’t sprawl out on their couch and try to take a nap.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten that it’s God’s
house and God’s rules. No one has the right, whether implicit or explicit, to
barge in and start rearranging furniture, painting the walls, or starting a
remodel because they feel like it on a given day. That we could be in His house
but play by our own rules isn’t only illogical, it’s dangerous, and many a soul
has been shipwrecked because they thought it to be the case.
There are enough videos of squatters on the interwebs and
what they do to the properties they invade to establish a pattern. A squatter cares
nothing for the cleanliness, orderliness, or overall condition of the abode
they’ve appropriated because they have nothing invested in it. They didn’t toil
to pay the mortgage on the place, work overtime and save to afford the new
roof, or spend weekends weeding and cutting the lawn. They’re there because it’s
a shelter from the elements and nothing more.
Conversely, when someone is home, they care for the space and
make sure that if anything goes awry, it gets fixed expeditiously because they
don’t want the lasting damage associated with not dealing with the leak, the
flooded basement, or the mold that’s starting to grow in the corner. Many
within the church today are more akin to squatters than permanent residents of
God’s house, caring nothing for the spiritual health of the body as long as
they can have temporary shelter from the storm. A son or a daughter will treat
the Father’s house very differently than a squatter will. The mindset is
different, the energy one is willing to expel is different, and the attitude
toward the house of God itself is likewise different.
Feelings and opinions are not superior to the Word and will
of God, no matter who you are or how many titles you claim. You may be special
in your own eyes and may even deem yourself the apple of God’s eye, but God is
no respecter of persons. Just because sister Marge or Brother Kevin decides to
rewrite the canon of scripture to make it more palatable to a modern audience,
it doesn’t mean God will go along with it.
No, God doesn’t have to accept your extra-biblical treatise
on why things should be other than they are as gospel truth, and neither do the
people of God, for that matter. It’s the self-importance that’s so galling more
than anything, and thinking that our ideas take precedence over the Word of
God.
When creation thinks it can dictate terms to the Creator and
sees it as reasonable and what it is, by virtue of its existence, entitled to,
it eliminates the need for obedience, submission, or faithfulness. We’ve become
like toddlers screaming that we don’t want to eat our broccoli, and the only
thing that should be on the menu is chocolate—lots and lots of chocolate. Many
have concluded, without any evidence to substantiate their belief, that if they
can raise enough of a ruckus, hold their breath and pound their fists long
enough, and generally make a nuisance of themselves, God will relent, as most
parents do, and give in to their demands.
I don’t like what the Bible says about the last days of the
world, so I’ll ignore those parts. I don’t like what the Bible has to say about
the last days of the church, so I’ll ignore those parts, too. I do like the
part about what I’ll be given being pressed down, shaken together, and running
over, though. That’s the kind of Bible truth I can get behind.
Build up my most holy faith? Pursue righteousness? Live holy?
Sorry, not for me. I’m too busy waiting for my thousand-fold return and
planning all the things I’m going to buy with it. It’s coming; I know it is.
The preacher man keeps saying it every time I turn on my television. All sun,
no rain! That’s my motto, and I’m sticking to it.
It’s not my fault believers all over the world are being
persecuted for their faith. They should have learned how to unlock God’s favor
and discovered the keys to prosperity living just as I have. Once you have
those, it’s like having a money printer in your living room.
There was even a time not long ago when devotees of certain
televangelists were encouraged to throw their bills into the firepit rather
than pay them, and the collection agencies would magically stop trying to get
what they were owed. If their car got repossessed and their home foreclosed on,
it’s just because they didn’t have enough faith or they didn’t make a big
enough love offering to the preacher.
It is the nature of flesh to wander from the light and
pervert the truth. Hence, it is paramount for us to hold fast to both light and
truth and let nothing distract from our singular purpose. Human nature is
predictable to the point that certain algorithms now boast of knowing what you
need before you know it. The pattern is there for anyone willing to see it, and
going back as far as the book of Judges, we can readily discern that one
generation doesn’t get better than its predecessor; rather, it gets worse. What
was once reprobate becomes accepted, what is accepted becomes celebrated, what
is celebrated becomes normalized, and the downward spiral continues until
judgment. Then, once judgment descends, there is repentance of heart and a turning
toward God; God relents, and the cycle begins anew.
Throughout this study, I’ve been trying to drive home one overarching
point: Without true repentance of heart, first and foremost among the people of
God, there is no hope of revival or any substantive awakening. We can keep
beating the revival drums until our hands grow numb, but it's all for naught if
we fail to focus on repentance and godliness.
The devil will never be upset about believers seeking riches,
fame, validation, or titles. Those things do not scare him or perturb him in
any form or fashion. What he does fear is believers walking in the authority
rightly theirs as men and women of God whose gaze is firmly affixed upon Christ
and the cross.
There are names the enemy knows, and it’s those names he
fears. It’s those names he targets and attempts to distract and undermine, and
if he can use a well-placed hireling from within, all the better because it
gives his attacks validation when it comes to other believers.
Just as we’ve redefined Jesus in our modern day, we’ve also
redefined the devil, making him out to be akin to a bumbling buffoon with no
idea of what he’s doing and no plan whatsoever. In reality, Jesus isn’t your
homeboy; He is Lord. Likewise, the devil isn’t incompetent; he is a strategist
and a tactician who’s always looking for a crack in your armor, a weakness he
can exploit, and an opportune time to spring a well-orchestrated trap.
The easiest way to fall prey to the enemy’s devices is to underestimate his cunning, grow at ease in Zion, and stop being watchful and vigilant. Many are realizing this far too late in the game, and must now contend with the aftermath of their indifference.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
1 comment:
God owns time so I suspect we have been on the brink numerous times in the last two millennia. But then the day does finally come and the five foolish virgins are left on the outside of the closed door and hear the words, "I never knew you."
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