How many people are running from God?
If you were to ask a non-Christian if they were running from God, I believe you would get the same type of answer from nearly everyone who you inquired of.
Most I believe would say NO, I’m not running from God. Some might say they do not believe in God, while others may say they believe God is very loving and would not condemn them to Hell. The excuses seem to be limitless.
However, if you could get right down to the reason for them continuing with a life of sin; most are running from God.
When I say running from God, what I mean more precisely is:
These people are trying, at every opportunity, to avoid information which would lead them to a knowledge of God and of What Christ accomplished for them on the Cross. I suppose that the idea is that if they allow themselves to be informed about something concerning what Christ has done for them, they will then be accountable to God for what they know. The thing is; they are accountable anyway, they just do not realize it, perhaps because it seems to be a prevalent idea that ignorance will be an applicable excuse when they face Jesus Christ on Judgment day.
However, as I have heard it so eloquently put, “Ignorance never saved anyone.”
Most of us would readily understand the idea addressed above concerning non-Christians.
CHRISTIANS
There are some Christians who have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof ( ll Timothy 3:1-5).
“Now wait just a minute,” I think I just heard someone say, “I believe in the power of God.” “I believe in healing, miracles, and in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Rapture and in the fact that God created the Universe. How can you say I’m denying the power thereof?”
I will put this as delicately as I know how, without corrupting the truth.
Anytime a Christian finds themselves trusting in something other than the finished work of Christ, that Christian is (even if perhaps inadvertently) DENYING THE POWER OF GOD.
Why is this the case?
For the simple reason that: the Preaching of the Cross is the Power of God ( 1Corinthians 1:18). If you deny what was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the Cross, you are also denying, THE POWER OF GOD.
“Whoa there,” I know someone else just said, “I would not dream of denying what Christ accomplished on the Cross!!
It is actually good that you are thinking this because it shows that you really are wanting and trying, and doing your best to trust in the Redemption provided by Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ ALONE.
The ALONE part is what I would really like to address.
Many times, we Christians will find ourselves, after years of serving the Lord to the best of our ability, trusting in some of the things which we are doing (I know first hand, this to be the case, because it happened to me, and the results were disastrous ).
This is a trick of the evil one, who will do ANYTHING he can in order to move us into a position of, TRUSTING IN WHAT WE ARE DOING.
Unfortunately, there are some in the Church who really do not want to hear this teaching because similarly to the non-Christian, they are running from God.
If we Christians admit to trusting in something other than Christ, then we know we must stop trusting in those things and start trusting only in Christ.
Unfortunately again, there are many who would rather not hear anything which might make them feel like they have to give their entire life to Christ. I think the idea is that, “if I do not know what I’m doing wrong, God will not hold me accountable. If there is just enough room for doubt, I can explain a reason why I doubted what is being stated in this commentary (or any other truth of God), then God will understand that I really had a justifiable excuse for trusting in some of the things which I was doing (after all, many of these things are really very good things. In many cases, very religious things).”
The major problem with this kind of thinking is that, what we are talking about is, THE ONE THING WHICH PROVIDES US SALVATION. The Blood of Christ which was shed for our Redemption, and to provide us with Righteousness which we could in no way provide for ourselves. When we believe that something which we are doing can in any way contribute to our Righteousness and Salvation, we are in effect saying, “Christ didn’t pay it all. He needs some help in order for me to have Righteousness and Redemption.”
Not only does Christ not need our help in effecting our Righteousness (one could say, the only help which we should consider as needed would be our trust in Christ and what He accomplished on Calvary), but the very act which we perform and place our confidence in (concerning establishing our Righteousness), is an insult to Jesus Christ, because he already completed what needs to be done on our behalf.
