Saturday, June 30, 2012

Pray To See God’s Will, Not Your Own

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” -- Acts 4:12

Tell me about your religion. What first comes to mind? Do you hurry to describe the building where the church meets? Are you quick to point out the style of music? Do you talk about the types of people who attend? Or is the first word that rolls off your tongue the name Jesus?

I decided to check the dictionary definition of “religion” just to see how it was officially defined. Here’s what it said: 1. beliefs and worship: people's beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities, and divine involvement in the universe and human life; 2. system: an institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine; 3. personal beliefs or values: a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by.

Interesting. So if religion is our belief in God, in our own set of values, what is the most important thing? Or whom is the most important one? Jesus. Because without Jesus Christianity and our faith, our beliefs, our religion, doesn’t exist.

We humans are forever seeking something to fill us up. Those of us who are fortunate to know Jesus have come to understand that only He can fill that void inside of us. Others are lost until we share with them. Oh, they may sense that God exists but they really don’t understand the One True God until they know Jesus.

Jesus is God’s attempt to reach humanity, Pastor Rob West said recently. Jesus shows us God’s heart, God’s love and God’s grace. Jesus is the bridge between God and sinful humanity. His sacrifice reunites us with God.

It is that simple and that complex. Because we want to make it so much more complicated. We want to talk about buildings and style of worship and money and good deeds. We want to proclaim His vision to the world, whether we truly understand it ourselves or not.

Politics always manages to bring out the best and the worst in us. Okay. Usually it brings out the worst in us. We loudly proclaim our personal views and give God credit for them, regardless of whether those views fit with His character or not. We are concerned for our own pocketbooks first rather than caring for the poor, the sick, the elderly.

Our religion defines who we are as people. It dictates our values, our morals, our political choices. The challenge then becomes distinguishing between our personal beliefs and those that truly belong to God.

This political season take time to search the Bible for answers, not necessarily to support your already established views but to truly seek God’s Word and His Will. Then pray not for God to agree with your will but that He would align your political views to agree with His Will.