The Best Reason For Doing Something

"By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
Hebrews 11:7 (NKJV)

There are many reasons that we might do things.  We could do something because we had received some good advice from someone, we could do a thing because we saw a lot of other people doing it, or we could do something because of some other reason.  Some reasons we have for doing something are good and some are not.  If we do things for the right reason, it is always a good thing, and it would be especially good if we do something for the right reason that results in some great benefit for us as well.

One thing that is always good for Christians to do is for us to consider why we are doing what we are doing.  There are many reasons that believers will do things, in their own lives, in their churches, and in other ministry activities.  The best reason for us to do things is because it is biblically the right thing to do, and of course because we are led by the Holy Spirit to do a certain thing.  If we are just imitating what someone else has done, doing something because it is a current Christian trend, or even continuing to follow a pattern of something we have always done in the past, we may end up having problems.

Hebrews 11:7 tells us that Noah prepared an ark in faith, because he was following God's direction, not because he had a natural reason to do so.  Noah did not build an ark because it was the popular thing to do, because the weather looked bad, or because the local home improvement store was having a sale on ark building kits.  We need to be like Noah and do what God tells us to, acting in faith, no matter what things look like in our natural lives, and no matter what other people are doing. We need to always follow God's direction, in faith, no matter what we see, hear, or feel. 

More To The Story

"This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.
So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.  When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately."
Acts 18:25-26 (NKJV)

Years ago, there was a magazine that would publish condensed versions of popular novels.  When you read the condensed version of the book, you had the basic story, but you did not always have all of the details from the story.  The condensed version of the book published the main, and most important parts of the novel, but there was still more to the story.  And while it was true that you had the necessary facts to understand the story, in the condensed version, there were actually more details available in the regular version of the book.

The Bible is an amazing book, and it is something that we can continue learning from for our entire lives.  No matter how many times you read the Bible, there is always more to learn and understand from God's Word.  Because of that, we also have to realize that there can be more to what we know about the Bible than we already know.  This is why it is good to be a part of a good church, to hear good Bible based teaching, and it is why we should take advantage of all of the good teaching that is available to us in various forms today.

In Acts 18, we read about Apollos, who was teaching correctly, but he did not have all the available information, there was more that he needed to know.  Then we read how Aquila and Priscilla met Apollos and "explained to him the way of God more accurately."  In the same way, we too may know a lot about God's Word, but it is possible that someone can give us more understanding of the truth than what we already know.  We need to grow and develop spiritually, be ready to learn from others, and understand that no one knows everything, so there may be "more to the story" from God's Word than what we already know.

It Already Happened

"giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Colossians 1:12-14 (NKJV)

What would you think if you met someone who was talking about how great it would be for a person to land on the moon one day?  Would you agree with them and say that it would be a great achievement, or would you tell them that it has already happened?  And what if you met someone who said it would be nice to be able to fly over the ocean in some type of a vehicle, instead of crossing the ocean on a ship?  Would you think that person was a great visionary, or would you wonder what was wrong with them, because they were looking for something to happen that had already happened?

One of the biggest areas we need to grow and develop in spiritually is learning about who we are in Christ.  Because of Jesus, we can become a child of God, we become a new creation in Christ, the righteousness of God in Christ.  If we do not understand what Jesus did for us and live in the reality of what has already been done, we will never really grow and develop spiritually.  If we are trying to earn a position with God or do something to be good enough for God to bless us, then we do not understand what has already happened through Jesus.

In Colossians 1:12-14, Paul talked about giving thanks to our Heavenly Father, because He has already qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, God has already delivered us from the power of darkness, and we already have redemption and forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus.  These are not things that we are looking forward to happening some wonderful day, but these are things that have already happened!  Instead of looking forward to something great happening for us sometime in the future, we need to understand what has already happened through Jesus and live in that reality. 

Faith Or Feelings?

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)

There is something I have noticed in some news reports.  A reporter will talk about something that took place, and then they will talk to some person about that situation.  The reporter will usually give the person the basic information about the story, and then they will ask the person what their reaction is to what has happened, and how they feel about the situation.  I have often thought that how someone feels about a news story is not really relevant to what actually happened, so just asking someone about their feelings is not really noteworthy.

We all experience things in life, and having feelings and thoughts about the things that happen is normal.  But, if we only evaluate things by how we feel, or just by what we might think about a situation, we will not really go from the place of experiencing the situation, to being successful in dealing with that situation.  Our thoughts and feelings are not always correct, and if we stay in the place of just our feelings and thoughts about a situation, and we do not look at what God's Word says about it, we will have problems.

When something happens in our life, we have a choice to make, we can consider how we feel about it, we can contemplate what we think about it, or we can find out what God's Word has to say about it.  Just dealing with our life situations through our feelings and thinking is a road that leads to nowhere.  We need to live our life by faith, and faith comes through God's Word, not our feelings.  The next time you are confronted with some problem or a life circumstance, don't just check with your feelings or thoughts, check what God's Word has to say about it, and walk by faith into victory!