Can We Claim True Godliness?
If you’ve read my previous posts, you probably noticed a few common things; that I was excited and that those posts have a theme of worship. I mentioned how everything we do should be an act of worship to our Father and that sometimes there are sins in our lives that prevent us from truly worshiping Him. I don’t know about you, but thinking about my GLORIOUS CREATOR and the fact that I can worship Him makes me excited! Lately, it’s been really bothering me to see so many people who claim to love the same King I do but they don’t worship Him. They don’t live their lives in a way that would even remotely bring honor and glory to His name. You know what people I’m talking about, those ‘Sunday Christians’ who really only think about God when they’re in church. They may seem so on top of things in church and ask all the right questions in small groups, but if you look at the rest of their lives, they’re no different than the world. Sometimes we wonder if they’re even saved or if they’re just really good fakers. We all know them and it’s really sad for me to see. Pastors, small group leaders, and friends alike all try to tell them that they need to live for God everyday but they just don’t get it!
Well guess what? God lined up and explanation for me. It’s not an excuse or necessarily even a solution, it’s just an explanation. But it gives me hope! So let’s Story Time With Natalie a little bit and I’ll share it with you!
At my church this Sunday, our pastor was talking about our freedom in Christ and how we don’t need to live up to all those expectations that society or the church puts in place for us. You know which ones I’m talking about; the ones that say ‘You’re not a Christian if you don’t do…’ He was explaining that the saving grace of Jesus Christ frees us from all those rules, that as long as we’re saved, we don’t have to worry about what we do our don’t do. We are loved and we are forgiven for the sinners that we are. This got me thinking about all those ‘Sunday Christians’ because that freedom is how they live their lives. They only seem to understand when Jesus says “Your sins are forgiven” but never when He says “Go and sin no more”. This idea expressed in the song currently sitting at number 10 on Billboard top 100 Christian songs. Ryan Stevenson’s song ‘No Matter What’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_xQ4NYtDQ) is a reminder that God no matter what we do, God will still love us and forgive us. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the song, but it’s sad for me to see people who only think that because it seems to me like they take it for granted. That assurance of love and forgiveness should make us want praise God, not live our lives as if He isn’t a part of it.
Ok back to the story. I’m convinced that at this point while I was sitting there in my chair Sunday morning, God was directing my thoughts. I started thinking about the Biblical analogy of infants needing milk because they aren’t ready for solid food yet. 1 Corinthians 3:2 and Hebrews 5:12–14 both use this in reference to people who are still infants in their Christian walks. These people need “milk”, meaning the basic Gospel of Christ’s love, mercy, grace, and freedom because they aren’t yet ready for the “solid food” of the rest of the Bible, the instructions of truly obeying God and worshiping him in every action. CONNECTION! All those people that have been on my mind lately? Maybe they’re not unsaved fakers, they’re just baby Christians! They don’t feel that strong desire to worship God in everything they do because that food is too hard for them to eat, they’re still drinking milk from a bottle. Do you see how there’s hope in that? Paul didn’t give up on the Corinthians just because they were stuck in that stage, he stuck by them and prayed for them and eventually they grew and matured. Instead of judging or giving up on these people, we should continue to embrace them and pray that God would grow them into more mature Christians so that they can eat and understand the “solid food” and truly worship Him with their lives.
You didn’t think I was done with the connections though did you? I thought maybe I was but God wasn’t; He still had more things lined up to hammer this point home for me. Remember that book I’m reading for my Christian Perspectives class at LBC? ‘Respectable Sins’? Yeah I was a little slow in getting around to reading the next chapters, but God knew that and He lined it up that way so the next chapter I read would connect to this! Chapter 7 was about ungodliness. Jerry Bridges describes ungodliness as “living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God” (page 54). I don’t think I need to spell the connection out for you here, I think you can see it. Later in the paragraph he is describing ungodly people and says “They may even attend church for an hour or so each week but then live the remainder of the week as if God doesn’t exist. They are not wicked people, but they are ungodly.” Now it’s all fine and dandy to recognize ungodly people in our lives but that’s not his point here. Remember, this book is about the “acceptable sins that we tolerate in ourselves” (it says so on the back cover). He isn’t talking about other people and their sins, he’s talking about me (and you) and my sins (and yours). Ungodliness isn’t one of those sins that only ‘Sunday Christians’ or ‘baby Christians’ struggle with, it’s something we all struggle with. We’re all on the spectrum of ungodliness.
In Bridges opinion, ungodliness is the root of all our other sins. Think about it, “if we consciously lived every day in the awareness that all we are, all we have, and all we accomplish is by the grace of God,” (page 59) how different would our lives be? How much less would we sin? Going back to my previous theme of worship, if “every circumstance and every activity of life, whether in the temporal or spiritual realms, is viewed through the lens of this God-centeredness,” (page 58) how much more would we worship? I mentioned before how everything we do should be an act of worship, but if we aren’t even thinking of God, we certainly aren’t thinking about worshiping Him as we go about our day.
If this is clicking with you like it did with me you’re probably wondering what you can do about. Lucky for you, I’m an underliner! I have soo many things underlined in this book that I would go crazy and lose track if I tried to count them all! One thing (out of 836+ things) that I have underlined is this: “So I pray prospectively over the day before me, asking that the Holy Spirit will so direct my thoughts, words, and actions that they will be pleasing to God…that God will make you more conscious of the fact that you live every moment of every day under His all-seeing eye” (pages 57 and 61). Pray that God will line things up in your life to remind you of Him! Bridges also includes some Bible verses to memorize if you’re struggling with ungodliness and I have those underlined too! 1 Timothy 4:7–8, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 1:9–10 and 3:23, and Psalm 42:1–2, 63:1, and 27:4. If you’re an underliner like me, you might also be a sticky noter! I’ve found that when I’m trying to remember something (like keeping God on my mind) I put verses and phrases on sticky notes and I stick them EVERYWHERE! And it works! Just in case you aren’t an underliner or a sticky noter, maybe something in this article from Desiring God will help you. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-get-your-mind-back-on-track
Our desire should be to worship and bring honor and glory to our HONORABLE and GLORIOUS CREATOR in every little ordinary thing we do. This starts with thinking of Him. This starts with godliness.
