I was planning a part 2 for my last post but this has been on my heart this week so Ill be getting to the other later on.

 I am part of a weekly Bible study where we go through the Word discussing and sharing with each other as we go. I just need to say that it has been a tremendous blessing to me and has helped me develop real friendships and grow in my faith.

 Lately we have been going through the book of Hebrews and really trying to find out what the author was saying to the Hebrew Christians he addressed the letter to and how we can derive timeless principles that God has placed there for us to make application in our own life.

  Last week as we were studying parts of chapter 11 and while discussing the faith of Noah we got on the subject of being a witness to the lost and what it means to maintain a good witness in and out of the Christian community. It has really got me thinking and I have some thoughts I would like to share on that subject.  

I need to admit first of all that as a follower of Christ I have in the past placed some unrealistic self imposed rules and regulations on myself about how I am going to act around people in order to “protect” my witness instead of being myself. A mask if you will. Sooner or later I end up not living up to those self-imposed regulations and as a result confuse people about what following Christ is about. I send a message that following Christ is following rules and make myself out to be a hypocrite when I don’t live up to them. I’m not being real. I am placing a false burden on myself to reach people and not allowing Christ to reach people through me.  

The last thing people in the world need or want is something that isn’t real. The lost grope their way through life living to find some fulfillment in things that will never fill. Disappointment after disappointment trusting and placing hope in the things of world that promise real life but never deliver. It leaves most people skeptical about the next thing while they search desperately for someone or something that is real.  

Jesus told us that we are the salt and light of the Earth and to me that has nothing to do with being rule followers. It means Jesus followers. To me it has little to do with “protecting” our witness outside of being real with those around us and letting them see the reality of Christ in our lives. 

There is a real peace in the life of a believer even during a crisis that speaks of a God who saves. 

 When people become aware of our real desire to forgive when the world tells us we should get even or bitter, we are salt.  

When people become aware that we sometimes make bad choices but we trust in God to forgive us and restore us and then put us back on the right track, we are light.  

When we recklessly love all people without concern for any compensation, we are salt. 

 When we let go of the guilt and shame from our past knowing we are forgiven and cleansed by Jesus, we are light.  

When others see us living out a faith in knowing who we are and where we are going, we are salt.  

When we display the true freedom that Christ has given us in Him, we are being “good” (and I use that term very lightly) witnesses by allowing Him to be seen in us and through us, we are light.  

 Being real is much better than trying to live up to a bunch of self-imposed rules huh?

 Lately I have been thinking more and more about my dependence on God. I know that as Christians we find our purpose and meaning in serving and living for God and others. Knowing this is my purpose I have made an effort to live that out in my daily life and have been blessed in ways I have never experienced before. Lately something much deeper is occurring in my heart.  I find myself becoming more and more dependent upon God for everything. I know that mankind was created to be wholly dependent on God for everything, but recently meditating on that reality is more and more illuminating to my heart. Let me explain.

  Although Adam was created in the image of God he was not perfect like God. He didn’t know everything; he was dependent on God to teach Him. Like Adam mankind is not autonomous, we need someone to teach us everything. We rely on some type of guidance for everything whether we realize it or not. Every decision and every choice we make is a direct result of some type of counsel from outside of ourselves. Now as we read something like this it may seem like no big deal but consider the implications of that statement. Things are the way they are in the world and in our own lives because we have followed someone outside of ourselves advice.

   Knowing this I need to consider whose advice I am taking to make decisions.  There are TV commercials that advise me that I’ll be much happier with whiter teeth or a new car. I have often made decisions based on fear or guilt that have been learned out of past decisions gone wrong. I have often taken the advice of a friend who I thought had it all together and must have the answers to my problem. What about all those self help books on the bestseller list? All those people certainly can’t be wrong. Knowing that I am reliant on some type of counsel for every decision I make, I need to know how many different types of counsel there are and which are the right ones.

 Back in the garden we see that Adam needed Gods counsel to live out his life. God needed to warn Adam that there was something dangerous in the garden that could hurt him and to stay clear of it. We don’t how long it took, but before long someone else’s advice entered the picture, someone who didn’t have Adams best interest in mind. Although Adam didn’t take Satan’s counsel directly he did take it from Eve indirectly. He had learned that he had a choice whether to listen to God or not and he also learned the results of taking advice from a source other than God. Since then there have been only two types of advice that guide our lives. Godly and ungodly.  It was a little tough  for me to fully comprehend at first but as followers of Christ we need to know that,

1. Every choice or decision we will ever make will be based on some type of guidance from outside of our selves.
2. There are only two different places that all guidance and counsel originate. One is from God and the other Satan and the root of all rebellion and sin is taking advice from Satan.
3. Our lives and those of our families are directly formed and shaped by the choices and decisions we make.
4. Even though our lives may reflect a series of bad choices its never too late to change direction and align ourselves with Gods counsel and guidance.

 So you might be saying wow I never thought of it this way, so how do I make sure I’m following Gods council? Glad you asked. In 2 Timothy it says that scripture, the Word of God is sufficient for everything we need making us complete to carry on a life equipped for following Jesus and all good works. We all desire to find some thing that will make us complete and the full counsel of God is our only hope. Turning to anyone but Jesus for answers and guidance will leave us confused and miserable, lost and hopeless and in the same boat as Adam.

 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm1)