following God to a point or following Him completely?

Lately I have been reading in 1 & 2 Kings - the records of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Sometimes it is a bit depressing to read about one king after another who did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and the consequences that the king and whole of Israel or Judah bear from that. But, in the midst of that there are kings that do what is good in the eyes of the Lord.

One of these kings of Judah was Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:3-7 describes him as a king this way:

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.  (It was called Nehushtan.)
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. (NIV)

Those words  make it clear that he was a king who followed God and wanted to do what was right in God's eyes. In many ways, he went a step further than some of the other kings who had followed God because he removed the high places and destroyed objects of idol worship; while some of the other kings who followed God had left those places in tact.

Hezekiah followed God as completely as he could. He was not afraid to risk the ire of the people of Judah because he destroyed their places of idol worship. His heart was sold out to God first and foremost. And God blessed that.

God does not want us to just follow Him to a point. He wants us to follow Him completely - even if it is unpopular. Unlike the kings who followed God but left the places for idol worship in tact, God wants us to be the kind of followers that will ruthlessly destroy anything in our lives that might keep us from following God completely.

How about in your own life? Are you following God completely? Or just to a point? Are there areas in your life where you need to remove something that has become an idol that you worship? Are you willing to take the steps to remove that from your life - even if they seem drastic?

God calls us to follow Him completely - in all areas - no matter what the cost! Are we willing to do that? Or do we want to follow Him everywhere, but ______________ (insert the area where you struggle to follow God completely)? Maybe we need to make the choice again to follow God in everything and then take the steps to do so.

doubt and mercy

"Be merciful to those who doubt."

Jude 22 (NIV)

When I read those words the other day they just seemed to jump off the page at me. Six simple words, but I think they contain a lot of challenge for followers of Christ today.

How do we usually handle those who doubt? Are we merciful towards them? Or do we judge them for their doubts? Does it make a difference if they have claimed to be a follower of Christ in the past and now are confessing to having doubts? Do we have more patience for those with doubts who have never called themselves a follower of Christ?

How do you want someone to treat us when you are struggling with doubt? Would you tell another follower of Christ that you are struggling with doubt? Or would you just keep quiet and hope to avoid any lectures on "just have faith anyways"? How have your doubts been handled by others in the past? Have you ever told anyone of doubts before?

These are just some of the many questions in my mind since I read that verse: "Be merciful to those who doubt." (Jude 22). I think this verse caught my eye because it goes against the way many of us - followers of Christ - have treated those who doubt in the past. I know many people who have felt more judgment than mercy from people for having doubts. Granted, it is not a guarantee that we do not treat people with doubt well. I could also tell stories of times when people who doubt have been treated with mercy.

The writer of the short book of Jude included some very helpful word in these few words. Really, if we are honest these few words depict how we would like to be treated when we express doubt. When we are struggling with doubt, we do not need to be told that we just have to have more faith or that we are not a good Christian because we have doubt. So, why would we think that someone else wanted to hear that when they express their doubt to us?

Ultimately the most helpful way we can respond is with mercy as the author of Jude says. When we respond that way we give people an opportunity to grow deeper in their relationship with God in the midst of their doubt, rather than push them away. Doubt can be a huge opportunity for growth, but we need to treat doubt in a way that builds up and draws people closer, rather tears down and pushes them away.

"Be merciful to those who doubt."

Jude 22

the you God wants

So, I just finished reading a book called The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg. The premise of the book is that God desires to make us the best version of us we could possibly be. As we grow and become more and more like Christ, we become more and more of the best "you" we could be. A good book.

Anyways, there was a section on how our experiences and circumstances shape us. There was a couple of sentences that I read that have really stuck with me: "God isn't at work producing the circumstances you want. God is at work in bad circumstances producing the you he wants." Since I read that a couple of days ago I have been thinking about it.

So often we try to get God to make our circumstances what we think is best for us. We want our life to be easy. We want everything that happens to us and to those we love to be good. We want to avoid pain or hard times at any cost. But, maybe this is not the best for us. If God works through hard times, through pain to make us into who He wants us to be, then maybe we do ourselves a bit of a disservice when we try to avoid those things in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.