Living In A Whatever World

I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible about reading directions. The owners manual of anything I own tends to go on the shelf until there’s a crisis, then I furiously search for the manual and try to learn how to fix whatever the problem is. Of course, the thing probably wouldn’t be broken in the first place if I’d just read the manual! I don’t suppose anyone else here has that problem, do they?

In His Word, God has provided the manufacturer’s directions for our lives. Our creator God has provided us with the guidance and wisdom we need to live in a way that will honor Him, and that will bring life’s greatest satisfaction. In God’s Word we have truth for our lives.

In our whatever culture, where each person is an authority unto himself, God’s Word is overlooked or ignored by untold millions, and the news reports tell the tale. What happens when we ignore God’s truth for our lives? We end up in a nation where Gideon Bibles are turned away at the schoolhouse door but condoms are freely distributed . . . a nation where millions of children grow up in homes without two parents . . . a nation where we cannot physically build prisons fast enough to accommodate the growing population of inmates.

How does this happen in a nation where, at least on the surface, it would appear that a large percentage of the population claim to be Christian believers? A major part of the problem is that too many of us take the religious dimension of our lives and put it in a box to be pulled out only on Sunday. The rest of the week we tend to get along and go along with the world without letting our faith inform our day-to-day lives at the office, the shop, the school, or the neighborhood. Your faith isn’t one more item to put on the To Do list. You and I are called to let our commitment to Christ shape and guide everything we do in every facet of our lives. It is the truth from which everything else flows.

As Christians, committing our lives to Christ as Lord and Savior involves submitting ourselves to obey His truth. Suppose I ignore the manufacturer’s guidelines for my car, by never changing the oil or ignoring the air pressure in the tires? It’s only a matter of time before I’ll find myself sitting on the side of the road, going nowhere and wondering what went wrong. If you’re going to drive a car, you ignore the maintenance guidelines at your peril.

Our manufacturer -- yours and mine -- has also provided some guidelines to insure smooth functioning of the equipment, and we ignore them at our peril. What does that mean in the day-to-day world in which you and I live? It means bringing our lives into accordance with God’s will, not the latest cultural trends.

If you’re a Christian man or woman and someone asks you to enter into a sexual relationship outside marriage, is that something you have to think about? Not if you’ve read the manufacturer’s guidelines; they are quite clear on the subject.

If you’re a Christian and someone asks you to commit fraud -- juggle the books to save the company some money -- is that something you have to think about? Not if you’ve read the manufacturer’s guidelines; they’re very clear on the subject.