[This is Party one of a 7 Part Series]
I recently read an article that stated the ‘7 traits of successful children’ written by a psychologist. Of course I wanted to see what was classified as ‘successful’ and whether I was doing a good job or not.
Of course, I logically know that most psychologists operate from a secular world-view, but I clicked anyway…
The first point confirmed my suspicion: Self Confidence!p
This is what most of the world chases and what is associated with ‘successful’ people. From a Biblical point of view though, Self Esteem is just selective pride. Essentially, it is a human believing that they can survive, cope, thrive, win, succeed – whatever – on their own. Biblically speaking this is close to blaspheme – trusting in horses, but not even the horses and forces of a king, but of self!
God has a different prescription for His people: Trust in Him not self… Lets face it. No one can change or control any part of their day. We are subservient to His will…and that is a powerful place to live.
What is said to be the middle verse of the Bible:
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people. Psalms 118:8 (NLT)
If you can raise children that can know and trust in the Creator, you have succeeded in parenting. But there is a word missing in that sentence. Do you know what it is?
“Alone”
The word is alone – and some might hate me for stating it clearly. Why? Because most of us have added other ‘things’ to trust. Whether it is psychology, money, family, financial security, feelings, church, partner, teaching – the Bible calls everything else by its correct title: idols.
Consider this Bible verse that is (unfortunately!), very clear:
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. James 1:5-8 (NLT) [emphasis added]
How clear is that??!
If you have faith in anything in addition to God, you have divided loyalty and you should not expect your prayers to be answered! It’s not like you need to walk away, commit murder or change religions – all you need to do is allow anything to be a source of security in your life – and that is pretty easy to do!
Most of us think that if we believe in God, we are ok, but this is what the Bible says:
“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.” James 2:19 (NLT)
Have we added to our faith in and trust of Christ?
God knew that this would be a temptation, so He gave us a clear instruction to avoid this pitfall. He didn’t want us to suffer the consequences.
You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.
25 “You must serve only the LORD your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. Exodus 23:24-25 (NLT)
Right from the start, God wanted us to remove all the foreign ‘gods’ from our lives. It’s called repentance and is the first step of receiving what Jesus offers. If you haven’t repented, you need to assess your salvation. The Bible calls this hypocrisy – self deception – when you continue in sin but think you are saved.
Have we failed to remove the ‘gods’ of the nation that God has given us dominion over? Or started to dabble in the thing(s) that He has delivered us from? (This is incredibly dangerous see ute 11:24-26) 1When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.” Luke 11:24-26 (NLT)
Jesus calls us to repent from sin. Sin, as defined by God is: filling to put Him first, making a ‘god’ in our own image, lying, stealing, murder (hatred), adultery (premarital sex / lust / pornography) etc.
If you have broken even one of these laws, you are under God’s wrath and are in need of a Saviour. Without a Saviour, you will be punished to pay the price of your sin against God. Believe me, when you look around at the power & intelligence of the Creator, you do not want come under His judgment!
He gave us His law so we can asses ourselves. How well are we doing?
Self reliance, pride, love of money, selfishness, lust, envy, hatred, substance abuse, pornography, greed…all these things eat away at us but more importantly: they are sin against our Creator – the One and only God – Holy and majestic.
If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
1 John 2:4-6 (NLT)
We are told to assess ourselves and change where we lack. For instance, ‘Are we selfless – do we love others like He loved us’?
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
1 John 4:20-21 (NLT)
Or, do we arouse His jealousy, by serving, worshipping or trusting other ‘gods’?
They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods;
they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.Deuteronomy 32:16 (NLT)
We need to repent, turn from our worthless deeds and trust in Him and Him alone. He has paid a very, very high price or us, paying for every sin we have ever thought or committed.
Lord, please forgive us for all the terrible sins we have committed against you, ignoring You and Your law. Please give us the ability to truly repent: to hate what You hate and turn from the things You will judge. Thank You for sending Your Son to die for us. Help us to follow Him & live with Him for all eternity.
#thankYouJesus
Footnotes:
- 1When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.” Luke 11:24-26 (NLT)