“I claim the holy right to disappoint men in order to
not disappoint God.” – A.W. Tozer
When I read that quote, it pricked my heart and
resonated with my spirit, so I thought I would share it with you. Sometimes - perhaps often times - we are
faced with a choice; do we try to please men or God?
God's ways are not our ways, meaning the world’s ways
- but we would like to change that if we could. If what you believe God asks
you to do does not conform to the conventional wisdom of the culture or even
your family, there are two possibilities; either God is indeed at work or it's
not God at all. You need the wisdom of God to know the difference. When it is God, the opinions of men should not
matter.
Men will ask you, "But what about .... ". On
the contrary, when God says "Go", He will say .. "sell everything
... pick up your cross .... love me with everything ... your whole heart ....
If you love Me, obey Me." How you respond will be telling. It's always
your choice who you obey. When you choose God, the choosing will always require
faith and obedience.
It would be a wonderful thing if the world was in sync
with God, but we know that is not the case.
Trying to find balance between the world and God is what most of us try
to do. And it seems so reasonable when
we do. The problem is, that one will always
go wanting because of the other.
“No
one can serve two masters .. you will love one and hate the other.” –
Matthew 6:24
If you turn to the world for answers when God has
spoken and made His will clear, you will most often be tempted to disobey God
to choose something more reasonable in the eyes of man. Well-meaning Christians will speak to you
about making other choices or at least delaying your obedience. It is like the serpent in the Garden asking
“Did God really say?” [And no, I am not
calling my Christian friends serpents!]
Their counsel is well intentioned but can be with selfish motive. Their arguments are logical, even reasonable,
except for one thing. God said
“Go”. Jesus asked his disciples “Where
is your faith?” “Why did you doubt?”
Instead of looking to Him, they were looking at the natural laws .. the
impossibility of the situation … which gave way to fear and doubt setting
in.
In our life, personally, God has given and He has taken
away … It is not our lot to accumulate possessions, for long any way. It is not a question of how much of the world
and its relationships that you must lay down at Jesus feet. The question is “Are you willing to lay down
whatever is in the way of what God has called you to?” Like Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me [Jesus] more than these?” (John 21:15) Then, in essence, Jesus said to Peter -
"Show Me!"
How about you?
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