Two Kinds of Christians
1. Faithful, but Lazy
It seems to me that when it comes to living the Christian life we often fall in to one of two categories. The first is those who consider themselves faithful, who trust in God that He will provide for them, that He will bless them, and who tend to look up and wait for God to answer their prayers by sending down His blessings from the sky.
Not to take anything away from the omnipotence of God—for I’m sure if He wanted to He could truly answer your prayers for financial stability by literally “making it rain”. However, I don’t think it’s usually that easy. Walking with God means working with God, cooperating with His grace, trusting in His faithfulness to His promises, and His willingness to surprise you with His boundless generosity.
2. Trusting in Self
In the other camp are those who trust more in themselves than God. This type of Christian is the kind that only really turns to God as a last resort after having exhausted his own efforts. We don’t want to fall into the trap that many Americans do of making ourselves into God, thinking that we can fix everything and don’t need to rely on God. Their prayer life usually consists of making 911 calls to God, like those so-called friends who only come around when they need something from you.
These is nothing wrong with working towards a solution, but as Christians we have to remember that God is always willing and more than able to help us. Every relationship requires trust. And every relationship also requires mutual effort from both parties. In this case, you shouldn’t expect that God is going to do everything and you can just sit around doing nothing. But it is also true that you are not on your own, but you have a God who wants to see you succeed and has promised that you will.
With Every Gift Comes Responsibility
I love to say that every gift comes with responsibility and this is especially true in the spiritual life. God will give us all we need, but He also doesn’t want us to be spoiled brats. Just like any parent, His goal is that we grow.
My wife and I decided that before our second child would come we needed to find a bigger place. We’d spent the past few years sharing a home with my in-laws, but with baby #2 on the way it just wasn’t going to work anymore. So we decided we would set a deadline to be in our own place a month before the due date at the latest. As the procrastinators that we often are we were looking around for places to no avail. We looked online, but nothing seemed to go our way. It came to the point where we got in the car prayed for God’s guidance and just set out driving around looking for a place to rent. We still were unable to find anything.
As we were about to call it quits for the night we saw a For Rent sign in front a beautiful little house. I called the number and the owner happened to be there showing the place. So I hopped out and ran in to take a look and instantly fell in love. The owner told me the rent, which was twice as much as we were paying at our old place and more than we had planned to spend. I couldn’t sleep. I prayed about it that night and the next morning as I opened the scriptures, God spoke to me as He often does and essentially told me not to worry about the money, to trust that He would provide, and to be faithful that He would send us where He wanted us to be.
To make a long story short, we signed the papers the next day and are so blessed to have a place to call home. We learned the challenge of trusting in God and have reaped the benefit of doing so. As great as that is, it doesn’t end there. Now comes the real challenge.
Every Blessing is a Challenge
After Moses had led the stubborn Israelites through the desert for forty years, they arrived at the Jordan River and saw the Promised Land. Moses had trusted in God’s promise and he died happy knowing that He held true to His word. However, although God did hold true to His promise it didn’t end there. He chose Joshua as the new leader of His people (Jos 1:2), reiterated His promise (Jos 1:3-4), and told Him that He would lead them into the Promised Land (Jos 1:6).
God gave them the Promised Land. They were so happy to finally be there, but now they had to take possession of it. To their surprise the land that He had given them was already inhabited by others. They had to fight for the land, for their blessing. This is where the real lesson comes in. It’s easy to get comfortable and become complacent. Imagine the Israelites who had been hopelessly wandering through the desert for a generation, they were ready to enjoy the fruits of this Promised Land. But God didn’t want them to settle in complacency. They had learned to trust in Him and He would make sure that they continued to rely on Him so that their trust and faith would grow deeper. Of course He came through again and they conquered the Promised Land led by Joshua trusting in God’s help.
“Only be strong and steadfast, being careful to observe the entire law which Moses my servant enjoined on you. Do not swerve from it either to the right or to the left, that you may succeed wherever you go. Do not let this book of the law depart from your lips. Recite it by day and by night, that you may carefully observe all that is written in it; then you will attain your goal; then you will succeed.”
~ Joshua 1:7-8
In our story, we have entered into our “Promised Land”, but the battle is just beginning. Although we are enjoying the fruits of this new home, it also requires us to remain vigilant, to trust that God will provide, and be faithful to our part of the promise.
“Work as if everything depends on you, but pray as if everything depends on God.”
~ St. Augustine
The Blessing is Just the Beginning
After the blessing comes the battle. Fortunately, it doesn’t require us to pick up swords and sheilds, but it does require some effort on our part. For example, we must be good stewards and share freely the gifts that God has freely given to us (Mt 10:8). Most times the blessings that God gives us are not ends in themselves, but a means to the end—deeper intimacy with Him.
The Promised Land wasn’t the end of the road for the Israelites, but the beginning of a new chapter in the story of salvation history, in their lives, in our lives. Throughout the Bible we hear the stories of the Israelites falling into complacency, getting lazy, waiting around for God to do something. We also hear the stories of them pushing God to the side and pursuing their own paths. Both of these lifestyles lead them in the wrong direction.
These stories aren’t just ancient history. This is our story. They should serve as inspiration to help us stay on our toes, trust in God, and walk with Him every day of our life. May His blessings continue to flow into our lives and challenge us to continue walking with Him hand-in-hand on this journey of life.