Would
we create a computer or robot, and then tell it “Go on, go your own way, I
don’t really care what you do now?” Not at all! If we make a robot,
we’ve got plans for that robot! It’s not getting away with running off for its
own purposes!
Why
should we get away with abandoning the plans of
our Creator?
Don't be mistaken--God doesn't need us. He
is sufficient in Himself—He is beyond needing anything we could
give. “The
God who made the world and everything in it…is not served by human hands, as if
he needed anything.” (Acts 17:24-25).
And He’s not lonely—there is fellowship between God the Father, Jesus
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and He is also continually worshipped by the
heavenly host.
Yet He still made us for a purpose. He made us
for His pleasure and glory, to love and be loved, and to demonstrate His nature to all of creation, all angels and demons
and supernatural beings. And He designed
us to reflect His nature: “Let us make
man in our own image, in our likeness,” He said (Gen. 1:26). We are His children, meant to be like Him in
goodness and holiness. Like children, we’ve
messed up quite a bit, yet as discussed, He’s made a way for us to be restored
and reconciled with Him.
We’ve got to remember that once we are
reconciled with Him, our purpose changes.
We no longer live for ourselves.
It’s not about me anymore. I’ve
accepted the greatest gift anyone could give me, and I show gratitude towards
the Giver by giving Him my life, which belongs to Him anyway because He gave it
to me. Because He is my Creator and my
Savior, He has the right to determine my life’s course. This is truth for anyone who chooses God.
It’s time for the American church to
wake up and remember our purpose. We’re
not meant to just fight for our own freedoms so that we can keep saying what we
want, critiquing our neighbor while we stay ensconced in our comfy,
multimillion dollar buildings, and feeling satisfied and superior while the rest
of the world perishes in ignorance.
No! Let us fight, live, and die for
the glory of God, who has shown us abundant mercy. Let us remember when we too were
ignorant of God’s righteousness, living in sin and futility. Let us risk our comfort, our jobs, our
safety to demonstrate the love of God in holiness, living as outsiders in this
land “bearing the disgrace he bore” (Heb. 13:13). Let us humbly seek the face of God Himself
and be transformed into His likeness, not compromising for the sake of our
comfort.
“Come
out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you…I will be a Father to
you, and you will be my sons and daughters”
(2 Cor. 6:17-18).
Oh
America, the land of the free! Will we risk our personal freedom for Him who grants
true freedom? Will we surrender our wealth, our fame, for the fame of the holy
God and the riches of His grace?
Let us glorify Him.
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