More Than Ordinary: Enjoying Life With God by Doug Sherman

Author:Doug Sherman
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Religion
ISBN: 9781615216161
Publisher: NavPress
Published: 2011-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

TURNING ON THE LIGHTS

Throughout the Bible, God makes bold and powerful statements about Himself and life with Him. Each one is disruptive to ordinary, status quo living. Some of the things He says in His Word tell us what kind of Person He will be for us. Believing these truths about God changes how we see ourselves and our circumstances and propels us to relate to Him differently. He also makes a host of extravagant promises that we can rely on in any life situation. From Genesis to Revelation, God never stops reminding us how valuable we are to Him, how much He delights in us, and how He will never leave us. In addition, His Word is full of extraordinary insights into how life works and what’s really important. It reveals that He means life to be an adventure instead of drudgery for us. These stories, proverbs, and commands have the power to help us avoid most of the pain we would otherwise bring on ourselves.

None of this exists merely to educate us. God is not a Divine Professor wanting to fill our minds with information and then testing us to see if we grasp the concepts. He doesn’t just want to inform us that He is always present with us; He wants the truth that He’s crazy about us to revolutionize our relationship with Him. Each truth presents to us a clear fork in the road. Will we trust His truths in the life situations He gives us and act on them, or will we disbelieve or forget them? There is no neutral response to God’s truth.

What we really believe in any moment is revealed by how we live. Yesterday, even though I have committed to losing weight, I devoured a big handful of chocolate chips. In my head, I acknowledge that the best life possible includes being healthy. But in that moment, I chose to believe that the momentary pleasure of candy was worth more than the long-term pleasure of being in shape. I acted on what I really believed in that moment, even though I wanted to believe differently.

Similarly, every action, attitude, and response to God is colored by what we believe about Him and about what is the best possible life. Every time we respond with confidence in some truth about His character, God turns on the lights to a far superior reality in which He towers over everything. The difference between seeing Him in the light and living in the dark about Him is one of the most important metaphors God gives us for life with Him.

John, the close friend of Jesus, chose this imagery when he wrote to some early believers: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).

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