Does your morale construct bring you closer to God than your neighbors? Because you don’t do this but they do that, does God look upon you with more favor, do you rationalize within yourself the reasons why you are like you are, and then determine that you are on the correct path because it is the path of man’s morality. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Many Christians want to be Christlike, but they have no real desire to put forth the effort to become like He is, the moral construct set upon us by man, no matter what region of this planet you live on, is close enough, follow the commandments, love your neighbor as yourself, (Mark 12:31) and everything will be alright. Cain’s offering was refused (Gen. 4:5) because he thought “Close enough is good enough,” and instead of learning from his mistake, which the Lord gave him an opportunity to do, (Gen, 4:6) he decided to take out his inadequacies upon his brother. Such is the way of man today, there is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl. 1:9) When we try to justify or make allowances for our shortcomings in being obedient to the will and Word of God, when we refuse to follow the clear promptings of the Holy Spirit, what we are doing is exactly what Cain did, close enough is good enough.
Not enough people seem to understand that the God who wrote and ruled in the Old Testament is exactly the same God who wrote the New Testament, the One who killed the animals so our first parents would have a covering for their flesh is the same One who died on the cross for all. The same Lord that said if you break one of the commandments, then you have broken them all, (James 2:10) is the Sovereign God who says over and over, “If you do this, then” in the New Testament. But we have decided that close enough is good enough, and God is just going to have to accept that. Almighty God will no more accept and reward your half-hearted efforts to serve Him than He did Cain’s offering, the Scriptures are clear, He desires obedience, not sacrifice. (1 Sam. 15:22)
You know what you are supposed to be doing, unless you are not studying the Scriptures each day, you know why you are not doing what you are to be doing, what you have been commanded to do. Call it what you want, attempt to explain it, or justify it to whomever will listen, but at least name it by its true title, you just do not want to. You are either too concerned with the world and all its daily pressures, you’re embarrassed about Christ and only feel comfortable about Him in the presence of the congregation, you don’t feel this or you feel like that, pick any excuse you want, and then make yourself believe that on your day of reckoning that the Lord Jesus Christ is just going to say, “Oh, that’s alright, don’t worry about it, it’s all in the past now.” The sooner you face your cheap excuses, the sooner you stop trying to defend all those reasons that you have come to the knowledge of the truth within yourself for your inactions, and begin to judge them now (1 Cor. 11:31) so that these items in your life will be tossed aside as trash then you will not need to be judged of them by the Lord on your day of accounting. I take no joy in this task, I do not judge any man, I am shown the truth, and then I speak the truth, I am no more than a messenger.
“He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.” (Prov. 15:32) “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” (Prov. 12:15) “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.” (Prov. 19:20) And these are just three in the Book of Proverbs, the entire Word of God is full of “Here is what you are to be doing,” not rationalizing your actions or inactions, not continuously trying to justify yourself before God, not believing that the Lord is going to reward you for being unprofitable. Not all are called to the battlefront, not all are welcomed into the fellowship of His suffering, but all are called to serve, all are called to die to self, and all will be held personally accountable for their actions or inactions.
There are many who can see through you, whether you realize it or not, the question is, can you see yourself. The world will know you by your works, (Matt. 7:20) so, who are you working for, God knows His children by their heart, so where is your heart. They should be one and the same, if your lost friends aren’t getting sick and tired of you telling them about Christ, then you are not speaking enough, if your heart is not aching for a lost world to come to know the Savior, for the sin that is blanketing this world to be judged, longing to be in the presence of Christ eternally, then your heart is not in the right place.
Is your moral construct swayed by the will of man, do you feel pulled to fit in, to not be ostracized, do you want to keep one foot in this world while pretending that your offering to God is “Close enough.” Your choice my friend, it has always been that way with God, your choice, such is the burden of free will. If you want to be used, He will use you, if you do not, He will not. Those who have given the entirety of their lives to Christ are laying up treasures in heaven, but they give little thought to them, those who are dying to self do not think about dying, they are concerned with serving, with living for Christ. They place little value on the morality of man, for they know it for what it is, not of God. If you are not offering everything that you are to Christ, then you are offering nothing, your cup will never overflow, and you will never know the peace that passeth all understanding. (Phil. 4:7) Pick a side, pick a master, but stop fooling yourself with the excuses of why you will not do so.
