CALLED TO BE GODLY

In the book I Samuel Chapter 8, we see a familiar story. The prophet Samuel had ruled the nation of Israel as a judge. He was God’s representative to the people of Israel. He was the visible representative of an invisible God. He was the one who relayed God’s mind and heart to the people of Israel. In Chapter of I Samuel, the people gather together in something of a coup. They tell Samuel that they no longer want him to rule over them but that they want a king like the other nations round about them. One could say that a mitigating factor in all this was the fact that both of Samuel’s sons, one of whom could be expected to take over from him, were totally unfit for the job. Samuel took the decision hard and he went to God. He wondered why the people were rejecting him. But God told him that it wasn’t really a rejection of Samuel as it appeared on the face of things but it was actually a rejection of God. The nation of Israel didn’t want to be different from the nations around them by being ruled by a righteous and holy God. They didn’t like different. They wanted same.

I read this article (http://www.esgetology.com/2014/06/04/baccalaureate-vespers-2014/) a few weeks ago thanks to Mollie Hemingway (@MZHemingway). I really enjoyed the article not just because it spoke the truth, but I realised it spoke present truth. The story of Samuel and the Israelites is familiar because it is a story that is sadly still been played out today in Christianity. A few years ago, a lot of preachers kept saying that the Church was growing worldlier while it seemed the world was becoming more like the Church (but not like Christ). Today it is no more a saying but a fact. Christ likened the Church to a city on a hill, to salt but we have abandoned that role. We don’t want to be different. We want to be the same with the world around us. We don’t want to stand out, be different. We are scared, afraid that people will look at us and point and laugh in ridicule. We don’t want that. We want to be like the people around us. We just can’t stand to be different. So we neglect the Holy Spirit and instead of relying on Him to show Jesus to us, we rely on our own finite, depraved minds.

When Jesus was leaving after his resurrection, he promised he was going to send the Holy Spirit to us. According to Jesus, one of the things the Holy Spirit would do was that he would point us in the direction of Jesus. He would not speak of himself but he would speak of Jesus. However we have chosen to neglect him and his work in order to fit it. We have exchanged the Spirit of God for the spirit of the world. How do I know this? We have exchanged what we know to be godly with what seems to be reasonable. We have rationalised with our fallen minds the laws of God and scorned his grace in order to follow our own agenda. An agenda set for us by the spirit of the age. We have forsaken truth in order to be popular, in order to be seen to be on the side of men. While God has promised to never leave nor forsake us, we have forsaken him at the first sign of resistance.

Every day God is calling out to us through his Holy Spirit, asking us to come back. The more he calls us, the more we ignore him even as we chase after reasonable and the adulation of men. Jesus promised us troubles, tribulation, trials and tests if we followed him. It seems we are just not cut out for all that so we have taken the easy way out. We have decided not to be led by the invisible God by the reality of our five senses. I believe the call of God is always counter to the spirit of the age no matter that you dress it in the robe of reasonableness. I have looked at this world and all it has to offer. And I have made up my mind. I will not be led by the spirit of this age or this world. I have chosen to follow God and all that is godly. I have taken up a commission in the army of the Lord of hosts and there will be no desertion. I will live for him, I will be different. I will endure the scorn and ridicule of men. I will endure insults, abuse and if necessary death for the sake of him who loved me and gave himself for me. That is my solemn promise.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal