LIVING WITH FOOLS, BUT NOT AS FOOLS!

WE NEED TO BE DRIVEN TO WITNESS

READ PSALM 53

Psalm 53:1-2

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven

on the children of man

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after God. 

We live in a world where the majority of people have said that there is no God. They have said it clearly by negating His existence, or by living according to a god they have, themselves, created.

Romans 1:19-23

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Men have rebelled and they are following their foolish hearts. No man naturally lives for God or desires to please Him. Evil is the normal result of following their desires.

God is watching, aware of every single act and every single desire and thought. Paul reminds us of what drives every man:

Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 

Every man follows the crowds, they follow the leader of this world, and ultimately they follow their natural desires.

This is the world we live in, and often we are surprised and frustrated by this reality. I know that there are many who live on the brink of depression because of the evil they have encountered or they face daily. Some live their lives angry and bitter about the things that they are facing. We should hate evil, but for the right reasons, not merely because it disrupts our own comfort.

Paul reminds us that we were living our lives and were being driven by the same desires, before Christ kindly interrupted our lives with His great grace:

Ephesians 2:4-10

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

Dear friends we live in an evil world, and that should not surprise us. What should surprise us that we have received grace by no merit of our own, but fully because of God’s mercy. We did not do anything to attract it, invite it, or merit it! As we get up each morning, these thoughts should overwhelm us, rather than feeling sorry for ourselves because we are enduring some measure of hardship because of the evil of others.

As gratitude fills our hearts, our devotion to God should grow strong. We should daily give ourselves to live by His power in a way that pleases Him, and not according to the desires of our corrupt hearts.

We should invite other believers to come alongside us and pray with us and for us, that we would not be overcome by the evil of others. We should remember that, at times, the evil we receive may well be a consequence of our own sin. Feel free to write to me, and I will be glad to pray for you.

We should also be driven to witness. We can complain of our government, our family, our jobs, our neighbors - and the list can go on and on, but the only hope is for God to save them and transform their lives.

Remember that our goal should never be our comfort, but the glory of God. God is aware of every evil done; He has called us to live for Him and to proclaim Him in a difficult world. Are these high callings driving your life today?