Saturday, January 19, 2008
The beginning of the year is a time for many of us to make New Year’s resolutions and commitments. It’s a time for setting goals to start the process that will set in place the desires we have for the coming year.
The choices we make today can produce an eternal result. One of those choices is to make a decision to commit our lives to the Lord and follow him. Following God is a decision that people must make for themselves. It is a personal choice and commitment. It is answering God in simple obedience, which always carries with it a great blessing.
In the gospel of Mark, Chapter 2:14, Jesus called Matthew to be one of his apostles. Jesus said, “Follow me.” Matthew arose and followed him. How simple is that? Choosing to follow after God is a willingness to remain faithful to the Lord, trusting and obeying him, no matter what trial or test life may bring our way.
When we choose to follow after God we have to recognize that our faith and commitment will be tested. Will we obey him in all things? Will we compromise what we believe to keep peace? Do things or people take precedence before the Lord in our lives? Are we so busy that we neglect our prayer time, communion and fellowship with him?
I believe these are all questions we need to ask ourselves. An internal inventory of where our relationship stands with the Lord is necessary. In Matthew 6:19-21 the Scripture reads, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
There is nothing wrong with prosperity, making or saving money for the future. We need finances, homes, clothes, food and all other necessities to live our lives. The Lord wants us to be blessed.
In all these things, however, we must keep our perspective and our relationship with the Lord; not allowing the things of this world to take over our lives to the point that we forget about him. We can read in the Bible where Jesus told Peter to take a coin out of the mouth of a fish to pay their taxes. Jesus made the statement that we are to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s but also we must render unto God that which is God’s.
Each person who has lived will one day give an account of himself or herself to the Lord. I don’t know about you, but when I stand before the Lord I want to present him with the best of my life. I want to follow after God with my whole heart.
Following after the Lord does not indicate that we dismiss our commitments to our family, jobs or community. It does mean that we must examine our hearts to make sure that the order set forth in Scripture is followed. The Ten Commandments still hold true today. When examining them, we can see the statutes that God has set in place for our lives. These commandments are not for times past or simple statements from the Old Testament but rather the command of the Lord for a lifestyle acceptable to him. They form a summary of our duties towards God, exemplified by the first four commandments and toward one another in the remaining six commandments.
In Exodus 20:2-3, God spoke to Moses saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Following after God for the Christian is to put nothing before him. It is to surrender anything that would hinder or become a stumbling block for us in our walk with the Lord. He is the Lord who has redeemed and delivered us from a life of sin and death through the Lord Jesus Christ.
In love, this was accomplished. In love, we need to respond. When Jesus was asked this question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment of the Law?” He replied this way in Matthew 22:37-38, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.” When we love the Lord, we will follow after him and his ways.
God is our source of peace, rest, strength and provision. As our heavenly Father, he wants us to look to him first for all of our needs. His ears are open to the cries of our heart. When each one of us prays, the Lord distinguishes each voice.
Today is a gift and tomorrow may not come, so the choices we make now are eternal. Take a moment and ask God to help you to make him, and your relationship with him, a priority in your life. May your new year be blessed with his presence, as you choose to make the decision to follow the Lord.
X Patty Scahill of Struthers, who is a teacher, preacher, conference speaker and author, attends Christian Life Church in Canfield. A former women’s director of Teen Challenge in Youngstown, she is working on her second book, “The Wilderness Journey.”