REAL LIFE

Hosea 14:9 “The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them.”

In a world where political correctness is of the utmost importance, there has seemed to be increased conversation concerning the ways in which someone can connect with God. It seems that more and more people are offering the masses “options” on getting to Heaven. The media has perpetuated this ideology by making Christians out to be narrow-minded and judgmental. Recently, I had a conversation with a dear friend in which he challenged the concept in John 14:6 “Jesus said….no man comes to the Father but by me.” His idea was that living a good life in itself was pleasing to God and that by doing so one could get to Heaven. This, no doubt, is a very popular school of thought. But, as someone whose life has been transformed by the love of God, I just don’t get it.
Some will laugh at this, but when I was growing up they used to sing a song in my church that said… “once like a bird in prison I dwelt, no freedom from my sorrow I felt. But Jesus came and listened to me and glory to God, he set me free.” His love for me and his sacrifice for me is liberating. How can I not trust the one who set me free? I wonder why so many are looking for an alternative way to find God. Perhaps, it’s because of what God requires. In Matthew 22, when Christ was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said “love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” He requires me. He wants me to love him, to trust him, to follow him with everything that I have. That means that I cannot live for myself and still live for Him.
This freedom is a freedom to really live. Not a freedom to live as if there is no God and that my choices do not matter, but a freedom to live with the peace of knowing that there is a God who loves me. A freedom to live for God and trust fully that His path for my life is the best way possible. It is the kind of freedom that allows me to lay my head on the pillow every night and know that God is leading me into a life of blessing.
Hosea proclaimed that the paths of God are right and that we live by walking in them. Note that it does not say “live while walking in them”. It says “live BY walking in them”. It is walking after God’s purpose and direction that brings true life. The trouble may be our inability sometimes to line up the two points side by side. Sometimes living isn’t what we think it is. Living is not just pleasure. It’s not just a moment or a season. But living is about a lifetime. It’s about the good and the bad, the joy and the sorrow, gain and loss. Following after our own desires really gets tricky when things go sour. But the ways of God are true. They are sure. They are the same in the good and the bad. And the end result of following after God’s ways is a lifetime of really living no matter what comes your way.