If God Does Not Go With Me

There is no such thing as an unformed life. There is something or someone that forms or develops everything and everyone. Who or what are you following today? Whose disciple are you?

If you consider yourself a follower or disciple of Christ then at some point in your faith journey the question may have come up - What does God want out of creating me? 

A relationship with Him provided by His Son's sacrifice on the Cross and victory from death and the grave is what God says He wants for everyone (John 3:16). But He desires an authentic, genuine seeker after His own heart, after His ways. I imagine those who pretend or who role-play disgust Him much like the Laodicean church made Him want to vomit (Revelation 3:14-22). God can work with genuineness. He loves us and calls us just as we are then begins to develop us, but we must put in the effort as His disciple, we must live His lifestyle. When you observe and study the lives of The Twelve Disciples that Christ first called into His ministry, you will see this truth of how God loves to use broken vessels/humans.

What do I want out of God's Presence in my life? 

I should want to have Him as Priority. Every thought, every decision, every word, every action should be approved by the Holy Spirit first. 

I should desire a Personal relationship because He is a Personal God. Access to Father God came at an extremely personal cost - the life of Father God's only Son - Christ Jesus. Now, because of that paid price, the path to God and God to us is mediated by The Mediator - Jesus Christ.

If we want the life of Jesus, we must seek and adopt the lifestyle of Jesus. "Grace is not opposed to effort, it's opposed to earning." (Dallas Willard - The Great Omission) God loves us in spite of ourselves and because of His grace, His unconditional love - my acceptance of His grace compels me to make the effort and live for Him. The need boils down to the change of my wants and that will begin to modify my behavior accordingly. If I try to modify my behavior without changing my desires, the behavior will not last and I will return to square one.

Trust in Christ's Promises and the manifestation of them are additional desires of God's Presence in my life. Hope for a better anything when concerning the Christian - a better job, a better marriage, a better year, a better relationship with Christ - is more than a wishful gesture or flippant goal. The believer's hope is always based on a track record of Christ's faithfulness and His declaration to execute His promise(s).

One of my favorite verses in Scripture and one that magnifies God's faithful and powerful presence is found in Exodus 33:15-17. Moses said to God after the Lord threatened not to go any further with the Hebrew people -

"If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.'"

I imagine Hell and the eventual Lake of Fire to be beyond awful. One of the contributing factors to making these locations justifiably terrible is the lack of God's personal, manifest presence. The part of God that holds all things together will be the only thing represented. 

Make sure you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior and your daily life (thoughts, words and actions) is in line with Him. Heaven and new adventures that go way beyond strumming a harp and floating on a cloud - await. 

Meanwhile, notice Moses made His communication to God personal and corporate. He desired to be personally "distinguished" and he wanted the Hebrew people to be specially "distinguished" as associated with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - and His promises. Like Moses, I also desire to be Holy, which means set apart, distinguished, special among all humanity for the Lord and His kingdom. Like Moses, I cannot do or be anything of eternal value - If God Does Not Go With Me.