Responding to God

Lets take a moment and think. When was the last time that you heard a message preached? For me it was Wednesday night. Think of what the theme, or (dare I say) topic was in which this gentleman preached. Think of the spiritual applications that God gave you through his message. Now for the convicting part, what have you done to apply these godly principles to your life?

If you are like me, the answer is absolutely nothing. Maybe you even went to the alter to confess something before God, or to promise that you'll get an area of your life straightened out, but you've seemed to forget all about it in a few short hours. And if you are like me, this Sunday I'll hear another wonderful message from God. He will show me something through His Word, but I bet you can guess what will happen. On Monday the commitments I made will be long forgotten. What happens? We promise to get our lives straighted out, but a commitment is as far as we go most of the time. Saying that you are going to do something doesn't get it done.

Have you ever done a word search on the phrase "the Word of the Lord came"? (CLICK HERE to see one done for you.) If you look down the list you see many, many men of God in the list. Men like Abraham, Nathan, Solomon, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, and Zachariah not to mention many more. God spoke to these people and they had a choice to make. They (like us) could either do exactly what God had commanded them to do, or they could be disobedient and rebel against Him.

God has given us His written Word in our language and He wants us to open it up and read it! He can, and will speak with us if we will simply open the Bible and read what it says. In Luke 12:48 Jesus says, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required". We have been given the Bible in our language. Others are not as fortunate. Because we have been given the Book, we are required to read it more than someone who does not have the Bible openly accessible to them. Not only do most of us have a copy, but we hear it being preached several times a week! The Word of God is being given to us from all over the place.

Tell me another time in history when the Bible was as accessible as it is now. Eighty percent of American homes have a copy! God has truly blessed us! But why isn't there an amazing change in our country? You'd think that our spiritual thermometer would have risen over the past one-hundred years, but it has done the opposite. Slowly we are getting colder and colder. The reason is not a mystery, it is a rather simple explanation, really.

We are not responding to God.

In 2 Timothy 3:16 God gives the four purposes for Scripture. The second purpose is for reproof. Every time you read or hear God's Word you should be reproved. After that you should make a commitment to change. Heed to His reproof and make yourself different.

The men and women throughout history who did extraordinary things for God, didn't get there because all they did was make a bunch of commitments that they never accomplished. When they heard the voice of God, they reacted to it, and changed themselves. None of us are close to where we ought to be spiritually. Each of us has sections of our Christianity that we need to work on, and sin that needs to be thrown out. The next time you open up the Bible, or hear a convicting sermon, change yourself. See what happens.