JUNE 2019 ISSUE: LORD,WHAT WILL YOU HAVE ME DO?

Modern living presents a lot of challenges to man. With the unlimited volumes of data and information that is made available to us through the internet and with a click or a tap on a button or more, we get opened to a whole lot of information. Though,some of those pieces of information are accurate and true,others are erroneous. The sad side of this unlimited sources of information is that we are open to confusion and as a result making sound and true judgment as to what is true is very difficult.

Satan is indeed a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) and he doesn't sleep, he is working twenty-four hours seven times a week! Our lives are under attack by Satan and he is searching for ways and means to propagate his course(John 8:44) to deceive and misinform us. He has not left the internet out of his tactical schemes of misinforming and deceiving men to believe not in the Lord Almighty.

The rise in disbelief in the twenty-first century is largely due to the unlimited scope of information we have around us. The infidels and anti-true Christianity movements influence a lot of people via the internet. Satan uses this as a great opportunity to deceive men to belief in the so-called knowledge-science and the wayward philosophies of men. As his nature is to deceive,he uses his skillful tactics to disillusion the minds of many to believe not in the God of the Bible. His servants are in the field,hunting God’s children and in fact,he has won some over to himself. As a result of his enormous activities in modern times,man is left in a sea of confusion with great questions of life. When man turns to the internet as a repository of all information (both lies and truth), he is offered different answers by different world’s schools of thoughts especially with regards to salvation and he is just left in a deep mess.

Despite the efforts of the anti-theist groups to disperse faith and create a world full of free thinkers, the impression of the existence of an Omnipotent and omniscient God is still present in the minds of men all over the world.

However,in the ocean of religious diversity,men are in a dilemma about whether to believe in doctrine X or doctrine Y. Two persons or groups of people cannot speak about opposite versions of the same thing and both of them be right. There are only two possibilities and it is either one party is right on the subject men are seeking answers to and the other party is wrong,or both are wrong. Men are therefore in a terrible battle with their minds to choose what is right. Therefore,many a man will have this question in mind: God what do you want to have me do? And God does have an answer for the honest and sincere truth seeker.

The first thing God will have every man do is to be a student of His word. Man must believe in the Bible. We must first of all believe in the Bible as the inspired word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17) because of its amazing unity and the complete thought it expresses though it was written over the period of 4000 years by inspired men who lived under different eras yet compiling of the the complete volume expresses a united thought of man’s redemption. Being a student of the Bible is best way we can discover God’ s perfect will for man. Don’t take any man’s word for it,but study it to see if what any man tells you stands the test of the evidence in the Bible. When we study God’s word, we will will come to know what we will like us to do. The only way to help us get out of religious schism is when we become students of the Bible who will study it diligently (2 Timothy 2:15) to know the truth which will set us free (John 8:32).

The second thing God will have every man do is to quit following human creeds and doctrines which are strange to His word and follow the truth if they discover it. Denominationalism is a sin against God,Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Christ prayed that His disciples may be one as He and the father are one( John 17:20-21). Paul through inspiration admonish the Church at Corinth to avoid every form of heresy and be united in speech,in mind and in organization (1 Cor. 1:10). Many men do definitely discover the truth but for the pride of quitting from a denomination prevents them from following the truth,for they love the glory of men over God. For whatever reason,some cling to the doctrines of men because of the fear of standing alone and being separated from their friends and family. The fear of losing association with people do sometimes hinder people from living denominations and allowing the Lord’s cause to work on their lives.

The final thing God will have us do is to obey the gospel and live rightly before Him. The Apostle Paul is known before Acts 9 as a great persecutor of the Lord’s Church because He taught what He was doing in Judaism was true and he defended. He persecuted the Christians but on the road to Damascus to continue the cause he taught was worthy,the Lord Jesus encountered him and He had a change in thought process and and He was directed to Ananias for further instructions on what do do. He obeyed the gospel and got baptized and from that time onward we went about proclaiming the Lord Jesus and doing the work of a Christian.

At Mars Hill (Acts 17) ,the people were confused about who the true God was as people are today and they even wrote on one of their altars the inscription; “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” and Paul upon seeing that inscription on the altar, deliberated with them on the scriptures and explained to those men and they understood the gospel message and some of them were baptized and they went about doing what the Lord wanted them to do. They now had well-informed minds and they were no longer in confusion. The lesson from Paul scriptural deliberations with the Athenians is – Satan keeps working to disillusion the minds of men to disbelief in God and therefore God’s people,Christians are to be better equipped with the word of God as Paul was to help men to find the truth and come to the knowledge of the Lord Almighty.

Every sincere and honest man who desires the truth , can get to know it despite the confusion in the world. If men will sincerely seek for the Lord’s way,He will show us His way. Also,Christians must therefore play a significant role to teach men to know what the Lord will have them do. We must do so by giving answers (1 Peter 3:15) to the challenging questions that the anti-theist groups ask to disperse the faith of the young in the faith. More to that,God’s children must be ready to expose every form of falsehood but in the spirit of love (Eph. 4:15) to liberate the minds of sincere truth seekers. God bless you for reading!

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