I used to think that it's enough to merely believe in Jesus and accept Him as my Saviour. I thought it's Ok to ignore His teachings, as they are too hard to follow.
In fact, I was strongly believing I followed His ways while deceiving myself in reality.
Whenever, the Bible seemed to point out that I'm wrong, I was only looking for ways to ignore His teachings by citing reasons, and trying to justify my own ways.
But is that what Jesus expected me to do?
No, definitely not! He also expected me to follow His ways, apart from having the faith of salvation through Him.
I'll break it down in this blog post.
Let's start with my ignorance in the past even after reading the Bible from a materialistic standpoint, and believing in the salvation through Christ.
My past ignorance is reflected from a few of my past deeds listed below:
Expecting others to understand and obey God's word as-it-is
Justifying my disobedience to God, mainly with a hidden motive to defend my own ego and pride in most circumstances
Dismissing God's commands, such as love your enemies, by subconsciously believing these commands are subject to certain conditions, even though the command was (and is) plain, simple and straight-forward!
Ignoring Jesus's instructions that were practically too difficult to obey - such as show your other side of the face when you get slapped. I thought Jesus gave such instructions to people of His generation, whom I blindly assumed, were more kind and respectful than we people in the twentieth century!
Trying to fit God into my knowledge level and logic, instead of believing He and His ways are beyond my understanding
Strongly believing I'm always righteous (while clinging on to Jesus for salvation alone, and living my life based on my own rules)
This list, reflecting my terrible ignorance in the past, goes on and on.
The terrible part of all this is - I was strongly believing I was a follower of Christ, without even thinking about the approval of Christ for my actions.
To summarize, I was a hypocrite, and that's the major mistake I committed as a believer. I always wanted others to stick to God's instructions, while I took a call on obeying His commands based on my comfort, needs and wants.
I was quick to apply the verses conveying God's judgement on others, while retaining God's promises for myself.
However, in the Bible, God taught us to introspect on ourselves (as individuals) in light of the verses conveying His judgement, commands and instructions.
Here is the verse, Matthew 7:3 for your meditation and introspection:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
When I read such verses in the past, I simply ignored God's conviction. In some cases, I didn't even realize I was convicted from God's view because I wasn't even aware of the 2 essential steps to follow after reading the Bible!
After following those 2 steps consistently, I began to realize God's work is less outward and more inward, unlike I expected initially.
In other words, I was expecting the people around me to change, without realizing for years that God wanted me to change first and that will automatically reflect His light to others, showing them the true path to life!
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