Have you ever sat on a bench in the park or at a mall and watched the people as they walk by? Where are they coming from or going to? What are they thinking? What does their life look like?
I will do this in both places but I will also catch myself doing the same thing in the car. A person will come into my view and something about that person catches my eye. When I see someone I see from many different viewpoints. Certainly I wonder about the persons spiritual condition, as a pastor. Yet I also see from a police officers perspective, and even that is broken down based on the duties I did. Not only do I view people from these two perspectives but I am also a man, a husband, a father. Still further, I view people and things from a world view based on where I was born and raised, my religious views, my age and so many other factors.
Everyone is not like me
Sometimes I try to understand the person I am observing from my world view but I also wonder what their world view is and how they see the world. I ride a motorcycle but my worldview is not like one who is in an outlaw motorcycle gang. There are times when I place people in a box, such as the biker I just mentioned. Occasionally, I decide I don’t like a person because of their looks, or clothing or maybe a slogan on their clothes or skin and then there are the time when I decide I like person based on the same criteria. And then I wonder how my view would change if I actually was able to get to know the person.
None of us are like God
I also will spend time meditating on the Word of God and thinking about God. I read the passages where people from the Bible meets with God or especially when they have a vision of God. Jacob at Bethel, Isaiah in chapter 6, Ezekiel, Daniel, Paul and John in Revelations are just a few. When these men tried to describe who they were seeing, they were unable to find the words to properly describe Him. Scriptures are full of His greatness and glory. When God really did appear to the people, He was hid from them by a great cloud of smoke. And even then no one was able to perform their duties or enter the Temple. Moses asked to see God but he was only allowed to see Him after He passed by. Those that do describe seeing God, did so not with human eyes but rather in the Spirit.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall
So often, and this is one of the sad things about us, when we are around someone for a long period of time, we lose our awe of them. Husband start looking at other women and children disrespect their parents. Satan also got caught up in this. He was one of the chief angels and freely walked around and had access to almost all of heaven. After awhile, he forgot he was but a created being and instead started thinking he was just as important and as powerful and as wise as God. He was upset because God was ruling creation when Satan thought he could do a better job. He wanted to be and still wants to be the one who rules and the one who receives all the praise and worship. He wants to be like the Most High God. He rebelled and one day will be thrown into the lake of fire!
People do the same thing and have the same attitude with God. We stress how much God loves us and that no matter what we do, God will overlook it. This is not Biblical of course but Psalm 50:21 say, “… When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you.” We think that because there isn’t immediate judgement that God approves of our actions. We stress this hyper-grace so much that we forget that God does not overlook sin. He is patient so that “all will come to the knowledge of Him” but God is Holy and Righteous and any sin or rebellion can not have fellowship with Him
The Fear of the Lord
God’s grace and mercy calls out to you and I to come to Him. As the Holy Spirit speaks to us, and we pay attention, we realize that we can not meet God’s standard of righteousness. Romans tells us that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and that “The wages of sin is death” In His love though, God did a one time act so that all of us, who were condemned to death, could be “saved”. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth. Jesus walked in total obedience and then was hung on a cross, where He took the sin of the whole world upon Himself. He died, was buried and on the third rose again. We are told in Acts that there “is no other name under heaven by which men can be save.”
You can be one of the “whosoever” that gets “saved” if you repent of your sins, turn away from them and by faith believe Jesus died for your sins and ask Him to be Lord of your life. This believing is a “continually keep on believing” type of believing and not just a one time act.
When we hear preachers and others saying we can continue to live a life that looks exactly like the world as long as we go to church occasionally, we are really pushing our luck. We think Jesus is our “buddy” and think that He approves of all we do. Then we start thinking Jesus is just like us. He isn’t. He is God. He is the Lord of Hosts. And … He is coming back again. Not only to gather up those who are His but to bring judgement on this earth. Those of us who have been living a worldly life far from the righteousness He calls for will be very surprised when Jesus says to them, “Be gone for I never knew you”
Contemplation
So, next time you are sitting on a bench, whether people watching or just contemplating life, take a moment to consider God sitting on a bench. Maybe, He is watching you and wondering why you are living the life you do. He doesn’t have to imagine what you are thinking or what you are doing. He is God and knows all of this. Yet, I am sure He wonders why we would live a life so far from Him when it is in Him alone that we will have peace and an abundant life full of joy, not to mention eternal life.
If by chance, you have been living you life thinking God doesn’t see or care, you can stop the cycle. If you have never accepted Christ then repent and cry out to God for forgiveness. If you have allowed complacency or sin to enter your life then do as Scripture says. “If you confess you sin then God is faithful and just to forgive you of your sin and to cleans you from all unrighteousness” (1 John) Of course this needs to come from your heart in faith.
Pastor Dave Field
13 July, 2021