In Romans 1:25 it says, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen." This verse hit me several years ago and has continued to be a strong reminder to guard my heart against depending on anything else other than the Creator Himself. The challenge in this is that there are a lot of great things God has created that are so good and I can become dependent on. For example, I have the best family ever. I love being at home. My wife and my kids bring me tremendous joy. I feel safe, understood and encouraged there. No matter how my day is going, I have the thought that I am probably the richest man in any room because I have a home that is peaceful-no eggshells to walk on, no strain in the relationships, no fear of anyone going crazy. It is an amazing blessing that I have. I love my family!But here is the truth: It is all created. My wife, my son, my daughter, my house, my possessions, the relationships that we share, the words we use to express our love for each other, my own body and mind and heart - all of it was "created". So I ask myself, "Am I dependent on God or am I dependent on these things?". The answer can be seen by asking myself this. "If God took it all away, would I experience a break in my relationship with God?" I'm not asking if I would mourn and hurt or if I would ask God a lot of questions(that is a God-given response). I'm asking if my relationship with God would be damaged. If it would, it shows that I am presently depending more on something else than I am on Him. So, to be specific, lets say that God decides to allow my beautiful 6-year old daughter to die. When it happens, if my relationship with God is strained and there's a doubt of whether I can continue to worship Him, what I am demonstrating is that I am more dependent on me having my daughter than on God.
With this in mind, our Experiment falls in the same category(though not as dramatic, of course). It is a created thing. As it draws to an end, I realize I will miss it. It was comforting to have a plan of how to approach God. It was encouraging to have daily reminders and to meet weekly with everybody to hear of their progress. But the same God will be with me in the future that has been with me these last 7 weeks. Losing the "structure" of the Experiment will be felt, but how my relationship with God continues after that will show what the impact was. Did I develop a stronger dependence on God or did I develop a dependence on the Experiment and the other people involved?
So, what are you depending on?
4 comments:
Wow! Great thoughts! I strongly believe that your dependence on God is such that if you were to come across a difficulty as in your example, you would depend on God more than ever. Your walk w/ Him is strong & it is evident in the way you live. I too will miss this experiment & everything that came w/ it, but it ending is not really the end but rather the beginning of a closer relationship w/ the Father.
Wow! I loved ur thoughts. I have no doubt that if something as such came about, that your relationship with the Most High God would strengthen. I had just recently been thinking along the same lines...but i hadn't thought about the experiment in that way, only that i knew i would miss it. What you have said makes me think about it in a whole new light and challenges me. Even though i know i'm going to miss it, the end is a challenge to see if the experiment served its purpose. Will I continue to grow in my dependence on God? I pray that we will all see this as the beginning of an opportunity to grow closer to Christ and to continue to depend more on him rather than the created things.
Thanks for these thoughts Beastly One! Let me encourage you to keep practicing in the experiment no matter what. Please keep this blog going. I love Max Lucado's book God Came Nearer. He says how one of his daughters almost drowned. Obviously he was thankful to God for that. In another book he says that he sensed God asking him, "if I let her die, would you still worship Me?". Very convicting. Thank you for sharing. God bless!
He was thankful to God for saving her. Sorry for the type-o.
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