BETWEEN ME AND GOD
BETWEEN ME AND GOD
I title it this way because that is usually how it is phrased when confronted about some questionable or even deviant behavior that one is involved in. When it starts with ourselves, it never has the desired outcome before God. The path that leads to the road of ruin is when I put myself before God with the hopes of God co-signing my pursuits. This is futile. The truth of the matter is it is between God and me. It has always been so and will continue to be hence forth and forever more. When it is what our title suggests, we will always find ourselves in a struggle—a constant state of confusion and frustration. When we deliberately choose the former and not the latter, we have bought into the snare of the devil and his lies.
The following is written to bring us back to the proper order; to awaken us out of our spiritual stupor and to get us back on the right track. God loves us and always wants the best for us. But the question on the floor is: do we love God enough to allow His best for us? The question should invite serious attention. We answer in the negative when it is between me and God. We answer in the affirmative when we resign ourselves to it being between God and me.
My Salvation. On that Pentecostal affair in Acts 2: 40, Peter said, “…Save yourselves from this perverse generation.” Salvation is the most important matter in one’s life. It does not matter what or who you are. It does not matter what you have or do not have. It does not matter about your education or intellectual prowess. It does not matter if you are rich or poor. It does not matter where you are from. The only thing that matters is are you saved. Salvation is God’s business. No one can create his/her own plan of salvation. The reason the majority of people are lost, is because they have made it a matter between them and God. They have obeyed the doctrines and commandments of men. They have decided to choose men over God. But salvation is not between you and God. Let me ask you an honest question dear reader or listener. Why are you what you are religiously? Why are you a Catholic? Why are you a Baptist? Why are you a Methodist? Why are you an Episcopalian or so-called Jehovah Witness? Why are you a member of any denomination? Is it because the Bible teaches it? These and every other man-made religions are conspicuously absent from the Bible. No one in the Bible was ever any of these, or called so, but were members of the church of Christ identified as Christians (Romans 16: 16; Acts 11: 26). Sadly, ignorance abounds when it comes to the matter of salvation, but the good news today is, you, my friend, don’t have to remain ignorant. You can free yourself from the shackles of denominational error and obey the gospel of Christ where Christ will then add you to His church (Acts 2: 47). The decision is now before you: will you hold on to your present premise that your salvation is between me and God? Or will you change your course to the truth that it is now between God and me?
My State. My reference here is to my position in this life. As a Christian will I live beneath my privileges? Will I leave on table what God has so graciously offered me? As a child of God, we are tremendously blessed to have God as our Father! But I humble suggest that many are living in remiss of the blessings God wants to bestow! Why? Let me mention a few reasons. First, our relationship is not in accord and agreement with our Father. God demands faithfulness on our part. When we fail to live up to our responsibilities as a child of God, God cannot and will not bless us. He said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6: 33). Second, we do not avail ourselves to His strength. Why are Christians so weak and struggle against sin? Why are we not more successful overcomers against the temptations of the devil? If victory is in Jesus, why do we seem to be failing? We know that it cannot be the fault of God, for He said He will always make a way of escape for us (see 1 Corinthians 10: 13). I would answer it is our ignorance on the power He supplies through His Spirit. We are Spirit-filled Christians with Spirit-filled power! We do not have miraculous power; but we have non-miraculous power that comes via the Holy Spirit! Listen to Paul: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8: 11). He also said, “…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3: 16). And when we draw on the Spirit through prayer, in conjunction with His word, God has promised us power through the Spirit to withstand anything the devil may throw at us! Finally, we have to decide if we are going to believe God or not. This may seem so fundamental. That’s because it is! But the failure to practice such parts ways with what God will do for us. Do we believe the promises of God? Paul wrote, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1: 12).When Paul was travelling to Rome, they encountered a severe storm that threatened the lives of everyone. In the midst of the storm, an angel appeared to Paul and told him all was going to be well and Paul responded by saying, “Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told to me” (Acts 27: 25). In the first scripture, notice Paul says he (God) is able to keep what I (Paul) had committed to Him. Do you see the order dear friend? For Paul it was God and me! In the second scripture we have the same. Paul based his confidence on the ability of God with the absolute assurance that he would be taken care of! His drawn conclusions were not based on the false claim between me and God; it was God and me!
My Stand. Where do you presently stand with God my friend? Do you know that how you may stand with family or friends is a moot point? The consensus of public opinion has no bearing on your standing with God. There is a sobering passage that always gives me pause in my doings and goings in this life. And that is, that one day I will have to stand in judgement for everything I have ever did in this life before a holy and righteous God. John sees in his vision the great day of judgement and writes, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20: 12). Our text before us has to do with standing as a posture. But in principle, I’m dealing with our standing in the sense of how we lived our lives on this earth. How are you living before God now? What will be God’s verdict on how you lived your life before God then? Multitudes by the multitudes are living in the here and now. Their lives are capsuled by the accomplishments of the times. But there is coming a day—a day when all you have ever accomplished from a material stand point will mean absolutely nothing. Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16: 26)? When asked how do you think you will fare at the judgement, I have often been told, “that’s between me and God.” Well, in a sense that is correct. I or anyone else will have nothing to do with you when you stand before God. But, again, between me and God is not the due order when it comes to your final destiny. Listen to Jesus, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7: 21-23). What’s sad about this verse is the desperation of these individuals and their erroneous claims. They had a claim that was not. What they claimed, God said was not the case. And He never confirms lies with signs. How did they stand? Notice the order: It was me and God when they stood before Him with their claims. The contrast is seen and the rightful order is given when God speaks and gives the final verdict of their practice as lawlessness. When God spoke, it was what He said that mattered. Thus, it will be when we stand before Him based on His word (John 12: 48). While they had a claim, God had the truth. And the truth wasn’t based on their claims or their order—me and God; it was based on the omniscience of an all-knowing God, His divine word, and the right order—God and me!
~Stacey Mobley