How Real Is God To You? Part Five
By Johnny Angel
Dear friends,
Today I would like to resume the series on how we can know that God
is real. I found a passage as I was reading the Bible this morning that
seems appropriate.
Matthew 7:[24] "Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is
wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. [25] Though the
rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat
against that house, it won't collapse, because it is built on rock. [26]
But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a
person who builds a house on sand. [27] When the rains and floods
come and the winds beat against the house, it will fall with a mighty
crash" (NLT)
One of my devotions this morning talked about grace. It defined grace
as things we need from God but don't deserve. God lovingly shows His
grace to us over and over. Suppose we need three things from God.
Through His grace, he provides those three needs. But being the
human beings we are, we then need two more things. God in His
infinte grace is always there to provide our every need.
Romans 8 declares that nothing can separate us from the love of God
that is found in Jesus Christ. The passage goes on to list famines,
persecutions, turmoil, etc. None of these things can separate us from
God's love.
Christ is our solid rock. We build our faith on Him. When we build on
Him, we will stand. As long as we look to Him as our ultimate role
model, things will fall into place. But when we take our eyes of Him, we
will experience problems. He is still with us. But when we try to model
our lifestyle after another person, we will have problems. Jesus is the
only model we can follow because He is perfect.
The more we strive to know God and grow closer to Him, the more real
He becomes to us. Consider what it feels like when you go watch a
movie that is really good. You get so into the plot and the story that it
feels like you are really there. When the movie is over, it takes you a
few minutes to get back to reality and realize that it was all just
make-believe. The more we get into Jesus, the more real He will
become. And the great thing is that He is reality. We will never have
to come back down to earth because He is not make-believe!
The problems arise when we fight against God. The person who
ignored Jesus' teachings built his house on sand. It fell apart when the
storms came. Any plans that we make including telling God what we
are going to do for Him will fail unless He has told us to do it and unless
we are building on His solid rock foundation.
Let us build on Christ the solid rock and strive to know Him more and
more. When we do this, He becomes reality. Christianity is then a
lifestyle as God intends for it to be.
Addendum:
Please pray for a friend of mine who is having a big problem right now.
N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><