In my counseling and my interaction with people, I have
sadly realized that much of our theology hits our head but doesn’t reach our
heart. Let me illustrate:
I know I worship a sovereign God. He is faithful to me…. He in fact, has always been and will always be faithful to me. He would never do me evil, there is no evil in Him. I know this, I can teach this, I read these truths in the pages of the Word. The problem is too often I do not preach to myself and my heart, which is very deceitful, and lies to me. I once heard it said that our enemy doesn’t desire to fill our hearts with hatred for God as, for the believer that would not be a good strategy, but his desire is to make us forget God if only for a few minutes. If I am allowed to look at my situation, my hurt, and my circumstances what happens is that the truths that I know, the truths that I have read about and experienced - those same truths grow strangely dim in my heart. This is why I need the church. This is why we need other believers. Somewhere in our lives we have come up with the idea that being encouraging means telling someone that everything will be okay, that if they just hold on that God will take their proverbial lemons and make lemonade. What real encouragement is, is speaking truth to one another when our heart does not believe what our head knows. The truth is sometimes the battle with cancer is lost, that life is messy, and sometimes it doesn’t work out like I want it to. But that is no reflection on God’s sovereignty, it is no reflection on God’s character, it is simply a reflection on my nearsightedness, on my inability to comprehend God’s ways. Many times I have to come to the reality that it’s not my theology that needs help, it is me actually believing my theology practically. In one of my favorite books, The Success Syndrome by Kent Hughes, he points out that one of the elements of success is “believing what you believe” and the point he is making is just what I have been explaining, that too often we don’t really act on what we believe. I believe forgiveness should happen, but I won’t do it. I believe I should prefer my spouse but I just don’t do it. I believe God is in control but my emotions state other wise. The problem is when I don’t believe truths that are declared in the Word, I end up sleeping with the enemy. This enemy robs me of rest, hope, energy, wisdom, grace and so much more. This short post is meant to serve as an real encouragement in truth for both you and me today…remember, God IS in control. He is good and He is working in the best way in your life as a believer so you can give Him the most glory. This is not always easy - it sometimes feels horrible…but He is still good.
I know I worship a sovereign God. He is faithful to me…. He in fact, has always been and will always be faithful to me. He would never do me evil, there is no evil in Him. I know this, I can teach this, I read these truths in the pages of the Word. The problem is too often I do not preach to myself and my heart, which is very deceitful, and lies to me. I once heard it said that our enemy doesn’t desire to fill our hearts with hatred for God as, for the believer that would not be a good strategy, but his desire is to make us forget God if only for a few minutes. If I am allowed to look at my situation, my hurt, and my circumstances what happens is that the truths that I know, the truths that I have read about and experienced - those same truths grow strangely dim in my heart. This is why I need the church. This is why we need other believers. Somewhere in our lives we have come up with the idea that being encouraging means telling someone that everything will be okay, that if they just hold on that God will take their proverbial lemons and make lemonade. What real encouragement is, is speaking truth to one another when our heart does not believe what our head knows. The truth is sometimes the battle with cancer is lost, that life is messy, and sometimes it doesn’t work out like I want it to. But that is no reflection on God’s sovereignty, it is no reflection on God’s character, it is simply a reflection on my nearsightedness, on my inability to comprehend God’s ways. Many times I have to come to the reality that it’s not my theology that needs help, it is me actually believing my theology practically. In one of my favorite books, The Success Syndrome by Kent Hughes, he points out that one of the elements of success is “believing what you believe” and the point he is making is just what I have been explaining, that too often we don’t really act on what we believe. I believe forgiveness should happen, but I won’t do it. I believe I should prefer my spouse but I just don’t do it. I believe God is in control but my emotions state other wise. The problem is when I don’t believe truths that are declared in the Word, I end up sleeping with the enemy. This enemy robs me of rest, hope, energy, wisdom, grace and so much more. This short post is meant to serve as an real encouragement in truth for both you and me today…remember, God IS in control. He is good and He is working in the best way in your life as a believer so you can give Him the most glory. This is not always easy - it sometimes feels horrible…but He is still good.
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