The Consumer Mentality

The more I learn about God the more reasons I have to repent because the closer I get to God and see His righteousness the more I see how undone I really am and how sinful I have become.  Read these words carefully in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “..if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

I know God was talking to the Jews at the time and this is what most people today relate to as the Old Testament and it isn’t for us today, but God does not change, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  I know people might say we live in the day of grace, and that is true, but God has always extended grace in every generation but sin was sin then and sin is still sin today and God hates it just as much as He did back then.  How many people are there today that call themselves Christians but are straddling the fence, so to speak, half in the world and half in the church?  And how many are calling themselves believers who are not, they are just going through the motions?  And how many in the church are in a backslidden situation?  Have you ever taken the time to examine yourself to see why you are a believer or if you are truly in the faith?

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

Have you a growing awareness of God in your life and are you spending more time with Him and growing closer to Him or are you just a Sunday believer?  This is so important!  Have you truly repented of your sins or have you just gone through the motions or have been just emotionally stirred and not truly convicted of your sins?  

It would be so sad to stand before the Lord someday and hear these words in Matthew 7:21-27, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

These are very sobering words that Jesus spoke and we should take them very seriously.  We can build our lives on Jesus or we can just go through the motions and depend on our religiosity without a personal relationship with Jesus at all but in the end we will hear these words, “I never knew you, depart from me.”  

Let me ask you a question, do you really love the Lord or are you a consumer, just using the Lord to get what you want?  If you felt like He has withdrawn from you for a time, would you still trust Him and love and serve Him?  Is your purpose to build your kingdom or His kingdom, drawing closer to Him and learning more about Him or just to use Him for your benefit?  I think everyone who calls themselves a believer should ask themselves these questions and be honest with the answers.  

Question, did God create what He created so that He would have someone to love?  The answer is no, God is love and He is complete in himself and needs nothing because He lacks nothing.  God created us so that we could have a relationship with Him.  Even when sin separated man from God, He loved us and He provided a way that we could be redeemed and be in right standing with Him.

Read what God says in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

The stain of sin is something we all have in common when we are born but, unlike stains in clothing that may be removed with certain products, the stain on our soul can only be removed through one source and that is the cleansing blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross.  Only when we truly repent of our sins and acknowledge them before the Lord and express our sorrow and ask Him to forgive us, will we ever be forgiven.  This is not just mouthing some words, but this is humbling one’s self before the Lord in true remorse, confessing your sins and asking the Lord for forgiveness.  This is something you don’t want to just rush through but take your time and pray through.  The Lord is seeking the humble and contrite heart, that He will not despise and we can’t fool Him for He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart!!

Enough said, if you need Jesus in your life or you are backslidden, or just not sure where you stand with the Lord, I have given you something to think about.  I pray you will take this Tidbit seriously and respond with a humble and contrite heart.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super great day!!