BEING SERIOUS

I Was Just Thinking About – BEING SERIOUS.

Are we committed to and in the habit of taking a serious God seriously? In an account of the Church in France during World War II, there were many who were willing to take risks and accept the consequences all because of taking a serious God seriously. The author of this brief history is Fred Trost. A conclusion he emphasized repeatedly was: “Taking the Bible seriously is not a program of some kind. It is not a curriculum. It is not a directive from some source far away. It is not a strategy to solve our problems. It is not a suggestion easily made. It has consequences. It is the simple act of faithful people, done for generations, sometimes at a risk, enabling the Church to make its way through time and events with a song on its lips, often in the face of the laughter and derision of the world. The reality is, hammer blows are struck from time to time. This belongs to taking the Bible seriously.”

We need to be practical and serious about the Word of God and what we believe based upon it. It is not a determination of one’s subscription to Creeds or rituals. It is the practical application of God’s Word to our lives and real life situations. For instance, what do you believe the words in Proverbs 31:8-9 mean and how one should apply them: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Is this what you regularly and seriously do?

Another place where seriousness is sometimes lacking is Matthew 5 through 7, The Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes beautifully express the pathway for blessing for those who take those words seriously. One beatitude states (Matthew 5:6): “Blessed are those who HUNGER and THIRST after righteousness for they shall be filled.” How many know the pangs of hunger and the parching due to thirst? In his devotional thoughts on God Hunger, Dr. A.W. Tozer shared: “Hunger is a pain. It is God's merciful provision, a divinely sent stimulus to propel us in the direction of food. If food-hunger is a pain, thirst, which is water-hunger, is a hundredfold worse, and the more critical the need becomes within the living organism the more acute the pain. It is nature's last drastic effort to rouse the imperiled life to seek to renew itself.” The spiritual application is clear and obvious – is this the way we seek after God and His righteousness? Preachers preach it but don’t do it; parishioners read it but fail to apply it; denominations claim it but don’t fully embrace it.

As the forces of darkness gain a greater foothold in the world and culture, the serious Biblical Christian is to live out the words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:13-14): “YOU are the salt of the earth…YOU are the light of the world.” Have we applied these words of a serious Jesus seriously? 

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.