What's Your Plan?

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NIV)

If Christianity is so easy, why doesn't everyone do it? Well, I don't really think it is that easy, but most preachers and modern day "prophets" would have you to believe that all you do is recite the sinner's prayer and you have automatic "fire insurance." But God goes a good bit further in what he requires of us beyond just believing in Him or in Jesus. The demons know and believe in Jesus. (Matthew 8:29) He wants us to relinquish our own will for that of His. We must give up ourselves and make Jesus the LORD of our lives. Psalm 49 says "no man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him-the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough-that he should live on forever and not see decay." (7-9) Only the sinless Son of God could afford to pay the price for our sins. We owe Him our lives, but most people do not want to give up the sinful nature. We write it off as an "illness" or a "mental disorder" or "poor self-esteem"-we just have emotional problems, not sin. Sin is bad and makes us feel bad about ourselves, and we certainly don't want to feel bad about ourselves since we are basically "good people"... "The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Psalm 14:2-3) John MacArthur writes "we are by nature enemies of God, sinners, lovers of ourselves, and in bondage to our own sin." (The Vanishing Conscience) We must understand that our hearts are impure and our minds are cluttered with worldly information. We must fill ourselves with the love of Christ and our minds with His Word.

Malcolm X wrote "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." The entire world has fallen for the Devil's lie that we don't need God or Jesus, we can fulfill our own needs and make it on our own through hard work and determination. Or worse, the "prosperity gospel" proclaims that all we have to do is "name it and claim it!" There is nothing wrong with being rich, or beautiful, or having more stuff than the next guy-we deserve that...and don't Christians deserve it more than most because the are "good people?" All you have to do is tell God what you want and sit back and wait for it to be delivered like your slushy at the Sonic. But Paul writes "for although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." And Jesus said "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:22-23)

Paul charges us in Philippians "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." (1:27) And Jeremiah 29 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your hearts." (11-13) I don't know about you but it sounds like God's plans are much more promising that anything I could come up with. Due to His inability to lie, I believe that His promises are obvious. He has plans to prosper and not to harm, and to give me hope and a future all if I will come and pray and seek Him with all my heart. Christianity may not be easy enough for the masses to embrace it like the latest low carb fad diet. But it is a lot like the old time diet- push back from the table sooner, move your body, and after a while you will see yourself transform into the person that you always knew you could be on the outside. If you earnestly seek God, read His Word daily, and follow the principles of Christ, you will become the person God always intended for you to be on the inside.