We Don't Trust Him

I always wonder why Christians would choose classes, assignments, meetings, work, trips, camps and any other things over prayer, worship and Bible Study. My point is not really about choosing secular works over church-related activities, I am wondering why would followers of Jesus choose anything else over Christ Himself?

I wonder why Christians sing songs about following Jesus wholeheartedly while having no compulsion to seek every opportunity to experience and to worship Him? I wonder why Christians don't find God desirable.

Fear.

The truth is that we fear. If we are honest with ourselves, we fear what is before our eyes in this very life. That fear, stems from the fact that we don't trust God. It's funny really, because we sing songs about how we trust Him yet very often our lives don't reflect that.

In our struggle to run away from what seems threatening, we do our utmost best to juggle and balance things out, to make the best use of time to make sure that trouble would not befall us. In our attempt to balance our lives, we compartmentalized God.

Sure enough, God plays a part in our lives. But that's where the problem is: God only plays A PART in our lives. We try to put God in a box and shove it in one corner of our lives, pulling it out only when we feel convenient to do so. If we have other "more important" things to attend to, we would not hesitate to close the lid and put it back where it was, as if God has no part to play at all in anything that's important to us.

Truth is we don't believe all the things we say we believe about God. We don't believe that God can take care of my future career if I don't place most of my time into my revision; we don't believe that God can take care of our results when we put aside our assignments so that we spend 3 precious hours to study the Bible with other believers; we don't believe that God can build our reputations when we reject those positions and responsibilities to focus on serving Him; we don't believe God can give us a well completed assignment or project if we don't compromise our integrity to plagiarize. we don't believer that God can give a secure future if we do not attempt to cheat in tests and exams.;we don't believe that God can do everything even when we do not do anything; we don't believe that God will take care of everything else when we abandon all else in pursuit of Him.

We don't believe Jesus' Word when He said that God will take care of everything else we need so long as we seek Him and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). We don't believe that we can walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We don't believe that God knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8). We don't believe that our God cares for us (1 Peter 5:7) We don't believe God's promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We don't believe God when He promised more than 3 occasions that those who believe in Him will not be put to shame (Romans 9:33, 10:11, 1 Peter 2:6).

If we truly love Him and trust Him, even in the face of fear, we'll run to Him, like a child seeking the protection of his father. But we don't, maybe not because we don't love Him, but certainly because we don't trust this Father who loves us dearly.

What is your focus, my brothers and sisters? Is it to hang on to this petty life as if a glorious and wealthy future will secure us forever? Or is it to abandon everything to seek Him who holds the truth of eternal life? Remember Jesus Christ said: "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." (Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24). What then is your focus?

God loves us perfectly, yet we don't. It's a shame that we don't. Our lives reflect that. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." (1 John 4:18) Had we love God perfectly, we would not fear, because in Him is perfect safety and security.

God's Character, My Encounter