For The Determined Disciple
Status Quo
I originally started this blog, ponderinghope.com because of Covid-19. People seemed in such fear and despair including the Church, who also seemed ready to run for the hills. I believed they could use some encouragement. But over the last few years, I have watched as a sickness has come over many churches creating a lackadaisical social atmosphere in the sanctuary instead of a serious spiritual seeking after God. Our will to fight for righteousness appears to have left us and has been replaced by friendly comradery. We are in a dangerous state of being which must be reversed in order to renew our commitment to Christ. In other words, we are asleep at the wrong time in history. A battle is brewing and we are not prepared. Ponderinghope.com now writes to those who wish a righteous and intimate walk with the Lord. The rest will carry on without us.
Our private and personal intimacy with Christ must remain at the top of our list. Nothing will ever be more important than that. And according to Scripture this should be accomplished together as His Church. We are to encourage each other to holiness. We are to help each other through the sharing of Biblical truths. We should even go so far as to provoke each other to die to self, so that we may walk in the Spirit of life eternal. This is the real purpose of the Church and not the busyness of creating our own ideas of what God wants. Jesus was very specific about this when He said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15: 8-9 (ESV). I’m not advocating that we remove ourselves from today’s church environment. By chance, there are those who would follow hard after Christ if only shown the way. But our vigilance to the walk of Christ cannot be sacrificed or compromised for any reason. We must hold fast and true!
Psalm 53:2 (ESV) “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”
Psalm 119: 2-3 (ESV) “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!”
Psalm 63:1 (ESV) “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
First and foremost we must have a heart that seeks after God. Nothing happens unless we are in pursuit of Him. We must prove our desire for Him by our effort to find Him. It is up to us to do the searching. The challenge is laziness! We have come to expect God to do everything for us in the relationship. We even disguise it by calling it faith. The only work the Church seems able to accomplish now is to create more subdued believers. We jump in with our works when we should be on our knees with our cries for Him! Frankly, doing the work is much easier than a personal connection with God. But it is the relationship that He requires. Ponderinghope.com is written for those who seek after God with their whole heart. I wish you well in your search!