By Todd Lockwood
If so, does it bother you that your relationship with God is non-existent? Many people casually call themselves Christians but have not the slightest desire or concern to be in the presence of God, until they need something. How do you spend your days? Is there evidence in your life that you have been forgiven and adopted into the family of God, outside of just making a profession of faith?
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…” - Matthew 15:8
How can we say that we had a genuine encounter with the God of the universe and go on living as if it never happened? God is holy by his very nature, he is perfect and beautiful in every way. The holiness of God is something to be desired, that is, if you have been given a heart that desires to be with him. A mark of the life of a true believer is the desire to be with God and to be like him. The pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of God. Genuine faith will lead a believer to gradually resemble God more and more till the day the Lord calls them home. A believer will live a life of continual repentance as they get back up again to continue pursuing the heart of God.
“The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart…” - 1 Samuel 13:14
Is your ultimate affection God? “Affection” is not emotion but it is the very nature of your heart. Your affection will determine what you do with your emotions and knowledge as you act in thought and deed. The affection also determines the will of man, whether it will resemble the will of the Lord. The affection is the “cause” and the “effect” includes the will, emotions, and mind. In other words, if our greatest affection is God, it will manifest itself in our lives.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments…Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him…If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” - John 14:15, 21, 23
If God did not give us a new heart to love him and left us to ourselves, we would hate him and desire to live without him. Despite having the knowledge of God, men live as if God doesn’t exist. Man is so depraved that the greatest sin ever committed by man occurred during the greatest witness of God during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. God manifested himself in the flesh but the world desired darkness over light and crucified the Son of God! God must work in us to be able to pursue holiness and to pursue him. Fallen mankind is not neutral but inclined to sin without God. Our wills are always at odds with the will of God until he intervenes and saves us from self- destruction by giving us a new heart.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” - Romans 1:28
Have you experienced genuine saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? When you are truly satisfied in the Lord, you won’t seek to be satisfied by anything or anyone else. A genuine saving relationship with God is like a beautiful marriage. A man and woman who join together with their hearts in a covenant relationship before God do not live separately immediately after the wedding. Genuine faith is like a beautiful marriage, the covenant bond continues to manifest itself in the hearts, thoughts, and actions of the covenant members. A husband or wife who immediately desire to live separately after a wedding are not representing a genuine marriage. In the same way, an individual who makes a profession of faith and walks away from God immediately after did not experience genuine faith.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” - 2 Corinthians 13:5
“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” – Acts 26:19-20, Apostle Paul
Do you pass the test? Does separation from God feel like a punishment to you or are you satisfied without him? The way you answer this question is evidence of the true condition of your heart and if you are saved or not. Can you agree and say the following with a grateful heart?
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
