God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

When I was in college  I felt restricted by what my religion taught. I saw other kids who believed in God doing things that my religion said was sinful and I questioned it. Why do some religions say premarital sex is wrong and others seem to allow it? Why do some forms of religion say that drinking heavily is wrong but mine appears to ignore the topic? What is with all of these rules anyway?

I used to wonder about being born into a family with a different religion and how my life would be different – all the rules would change. I wondered if I would I be more holy or less holy – more right or less right- more a sinner or less a sinner. I wondered if God would love me more if I believed in Him using a different religion.

Unless we read the Bible our choices in life are just random. They are either based on legalistic rules of a man made religion or what we want – what makes us happy in the moment based on our feelings, stress level and energy level. These are faulty gauges. We can really make a mess of our lives based on our emotions and/or legalistic rules of a particular religion. By reading the Word of God, the instructions we receive are from the Man who made the universe and everything it in. He knows how the world works and can lead us away from something that will eventually lead to death, yes death. Death of our happiness, relationships and health – which is death itself. When we don’t read the Bible we are just guessing and you guessed it, we are going to be more wrong than right.

God is Love. Let me repeat that again. God is Love. Everything He asks us to do leads to love. Everything we do against God’s will, leads to slavery and eventually death. Harsh!

By following all that God reveals to us in the Bible, we are leading ourselves down a path of receiving and giving more love. When we follow His Commandments and teachings we are committing ourselves to a life in His kingdom on earth and we will receive help, a peace that transcends all understanding and joy; which is contentment not based on our circumstances. Here is an example.

God would like us to have no other God’s before Him. If we focus on some activity, thing or person more than we focus on God, it will draw us away from Him and the people in our lives who we can love, enjoy and who will show us love in return. God tells us to follow Him and avoid what we think is correct, because humans can’t see the whole picture. God can see the end result of our actions and when we follow His ways the end result will always be better than you could create for yourself using your own limited thinking.

When we are stubborn and think we know better than God, we can end up saying to ourselves “I didn’t choose to be born, but here I am so I want to do what I want, I want to have fun!” ( and yes, I have said this in myself!) This attitude is missing the big picture. We have a helper in the Holy Spirit, the ONE who wants what is best for us. Our lives will work out for our happiness and God’s glory if we listen to it. We need to change our thinking and realize that humans can achieve worldly things and pursue fun as our goal but that won’t lead to sustained happiness. It may even cause long term problems down the road.

Trust God’s leading for your life.  Sometimes it will be very hard, but the Holy Spirit will help you. You might even question where God is leading you -but if you stick with it, you will see the glorious end result.

When you pick up a coin in the United States it says “In God We Trust.” Let those words sink into your heart. You really can trust in the Creator of the Universe, He wants what is best for you.

God’s Promise:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. (Psalm 32:8 NIV)

Music For Your Soul:

More than You Think I Am by Danny Gokey.