“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.” Isaiah 55:8-13
New Living Translation
It’s easy to get caught up in your own wants and desires. When you’ve got this image in your head of what you want, generally your focus lands on how to get it. Then, the line between right and wrong begins to blur a little as you strive for that thing you want. Does any of this sound familiar? Probably. We’ve all experienced this a time or two.
Thankfully, as Isaiah stated, God does not think like us. He never struggles with right and wrong. He is the author of it all so He understands entirely what we should and should not do. Also, He knows what is really worth pursuing.
What happens a lot of times is we let these worldly ideas take ahold of our minds. We see movies and TV shows pushing dating straight out of elementary school (or even in elementary school) and hear terms like “friends with benefits” and eventually our perspective starts to change on dating and purity. Then, we start compromising our own standards to fit the status quo set for us by the culture. I just used dating as an easy example. There are so many more subjects that get distorted by culture. Money, family, success, faith, and more get a new spin on them everyday, and most of them are not right.
However, God’s Word never changes. His standards remain the same throughout all of time. As Isaiah 55 pointed out, His Word always produces fruit. What does that mean? That means that what God says, teaches, and decrees never fails or grows old. God’s words lead people to true success, the only real success there is.
When people follow God and let Him set the standards for their lives, their view points and standards begin to shift to fit His. Only, unlike when culture shifts people’s standards, people won’t change their standards at the drop of a hat because God’s truths remain the same from age to age (forever).
What does this mean? Well, this means the Word of God, the Bible, should be the study guide for life. Let me explain this a little further. You know in school you sometimes get a study guide for a test. The study guide walks you through all the possibilities of questions the test will throw at you and presents you with the answers to those questions. Just because a question was answered in the study guide does not guarantee that it will appear on the test.
Now, think of it like this, life is the test. God gave us scripture which is our study guide. He put everything He felt we needed to be able to pass the test on those pages. God did not guarantee that all of us would encounter all the questions and situations addressed in the Bible, but He made sure we were prepared for them. If we spend time and put effort into that time in the Word, then we’ll be prepared for when any one of those questions or scenarios pops up.
When we let the culture, political parties, celebrities, neighbors, friends, anyone other than God’s Word be our study guide, there will be a million different answers for the same question. Within that million options, there is the right answer hidden and obscured. This is comparable to studying for an exam by reading 20 different Wikipedia articles. It would be so much easier to just use the study guide, wouldn’t it?
So, then we have to ask ourselves, why don’t we embrace the Word of God and let it be our guide as God intended? The most common comments I hear from people are “I don’t have time to read the Bible” and “it’s boring, I don’t want to read it.” In response to the first comment, all I have to say is this:
You only have as much time for God’s Word as you think you do. God created time so you either choose to give Him what belongs to Him or you horde it for yourself.
To the second comment, I would say this:
God never said He’d make life exciting. When you signed on to His plan for your life, you weren’t signing on to a cable program, you were signing on to reality.
Anything worth having is hard work. A strong relationship with God and a life spent honoring the Lord is the most valuable thing you could ever have. If you’re willing to work hours just to get money so that you can buy a new TV, then you can spend time studying the Word of God whether you think it’s boring or not.
See, the Bible really isn’t boring. It’s full of twists and turns, scandals, wars, and more. Talk about covering every genre. There are even some pretty funny parts in there, like Balaam talking to a donkey (Numbers 22). So, if you think the Word of God is boring, I seriously doubt you’ve read it.
A real Christian doesn’t put their own comfort, pleasure, and desire before the Lord. Those who don’t want to put the effort in for God are lovingly referred to as “lazy Christians” or “fake Christians.” These kind of people are in it for the bragging rights and for the end result. It’s like one of those kids who wants the grade for the group project but doesn’t actually put any effort in. No one likes spending time with that kind of person. Neither does God.
So, let me end with this, are you willing to put the effort in to being an all-in Christian? Are you sick of being a lazy or fake Christian? We have no promise of tomorrow, or even the next minute. Now is the time to change. I hope that you are ready to take the leap into full-fledged faith!
