Lion Heart ENCOURAGE - Deciding who’s right

Intro:

Hey Man of God! So, in my last ENCOURAGE post I made the argument for choosing the Long Game over the Short Game. Pursuing things that lasted into the next age, instead of things the perish with time. Seeking God’s kind of Glory and not the fading glory of earthly things. Many responded asking me to write about how one would go about playing the long game, practically.

Encouragement:

So as an illustration of how this journey often goes, I love the way teenagers often consider themselves to have arrived at a higher level of understanding than their parents. Not sure if you’ve experienced that?

There’s that age range where your children believe, quite confidently, that they know better than you. I mean, you’re an oldie, you don’t get how the world has changed since you were a child. The younger generation somehow has a jump on wisdom. They somehow, due to the enhanced environment, and a more informed populous, believe that they know more than their parents. Even though their parents have seen 20-30 years more mileage. Right?

I love recounting this short but enlightening and humorous story to illustration this journey:

16 year old Son: Dad, you just don’t understand. Things have changed so much since you were a child. Dad, you have no idea what I’m going through.

48 year old Dad: Son, I hear you, but you’d be surprised how much I can see from my vantage point, even though I’ve taken a different route to you.

Son: No Dad, you really have no idea about what I’m going through.

8 years later…

Son to his friends: Guys, it’s amazing to see how much my Dad has learnt in these last 8 years. He really understands things so much better lately.

LOL. We can see in this story that it’s not really the Dad that has matured, but rather the son that has come to see things differently now that he has gained more experience, and now his thinking is more aligned with that of his Dad’s.

And so it is with us and God. So often, the ‘fuddy duddy’ rules that God has put in place seem antiquated and unrealistic. But really, it’s us that don’t understand. And as we grow in maturity, we slowly start to align our minds with that of God. And slowly but surely, we start understanding what is really valuable and true.

For some, this journey to maturity never happens, some reject God’s ways completely, and they spend their lives caught in pain and trouble because they are refusing to accept that God knows better.

This was actually something I said to my child one day, ‘you might not understand what I’m saying, and you might not totally agree, but just because I’m your Dad you should choose to trust me’.

Same with us and God. Because He is God, and even if we don’t agree, we must choose to trust Him just because He is God.

I love practical approaches to Christianity.

Often times the practical steps God requires us to take in this life don’t make sense. Sometimes they seem illogical. But they are practical and have Godly wisdom.

As an example let’s look at the New Covenant practice of breaking of bread. Yes, it has great significance, but why does the Bible teach that we should do it over and over again, whenever we get together?

Then, the Old Testament laws of not wearing clothing made from mixed fabrics, or not planting different seeds together? Then even more bizarrely the practice by which a Priest would lay their hands on an animal somehow miraculously transferring the sins of a person to the animal. Strange!

Furthermore the New Covenant doctrine of dying in order to live. Really, we need to die to live?! Give to receive. Giving is more blessed than receiving. Trusting without seeing. Somehow these principles don’t align to our modern way of thinking.

There are many practices that don’t always make practical sense to us, but they have significant power to change and direct our paths. God understands us, He designed our ‘wiring’, and thus He has given us directions that will help us move forward on the path He has for us. We need to have a mind change about God. This is part of playing the long game, changing our ‘stinking thinking into Godly thinking’.

God is ultimately Faithful. And ultimately trustworthy. That’s my point, Trust and Obey. This is part of the long game.

I will admit that this is a process, this understanding and trust comes with time, comes with many miles walked together. But it is a beautiful dawning of rest. Rest in knowing that God is who He says He is.

Furthermore, answering the following three things will help us play the long game:

1.        Is He God?

2.        Is He Good?

3.        Does He care for me personally?

If there is no God, then what’s the point? And if there is a God, but He doesn’t care, then what’s the point?

Heb 11:16 NKJV

‘But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’

So if there is a God, and He is Good, and He cares, then that’s all the point you need!

You see, knowing God is the beginning of Faith! And walking in Faith is playing the long game. Having Faith in God helps us walk in His ways because we trust Him. I hope that I’m conveying that Trusting God is the start of playing the long game?

Next on our list today is developing an understanding of what is valuable to God. This is key.

As we trust God, and walk more and more in His ways, we also walk closer and closer to Him, and it is in this intimacy that we start seeing the world as He sees it. And we start to value what He values.

Adopting God’s value matrix helps us adjust our aim. It doesn’t help going hard after something that’s not really important to Him. Even though sometimes it seems like a ‘good’ thing, it’s not always valuable to God.

Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

Walk in step with the Holy Spirit to better understand what is of value to God. Value what He values, and you will adjust your aim to the eternal prize.

He is our eternal prize!

Let me wrap up this ENCOURAGE post with a look at my heading, ‘deciding who is right’. When we walk using our earthly ‘wisdom’ we believe that we are right, just like that teenager, but when we align ourselves with God we start to see that He was right all along. Play the long game!

Prayer Request:

Recently, we have reached out to a few township churches in Mamelodi. Our purpose is to start building relationships with them to assist in leading those people closer to God, and also strengthening the church through strengthening Christian families. Prayer lays a foundation for these outreaches. Please pray with me that God open the right doors and blesses our sowing there.

Please fwd this message to those who you think can benefit!

Your Brother in Christ,

Stanley 

100% human generated content