Liar?

 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Romans 8:32.....The key to living victoriously is to know that you can." Chris Tiegreen

I came across a piercing question in one of my devotionals the other day. I was confronted with the question, "Does my life, as I live it in Him, make God a liar?" Such a question can make us squirm because there is nowhere to hide from it, especially in light of the above Scripture and so many other Scriptures in His Word. We are promised an overcoming, victorious life. How can it be that so many professing followers of Christ are not living such a life at all? When we look at what He has said about victorious lives, abundant lives, overcoming lives, does the witness of our life make God a liar? Do we give evidence that God cannot keep His Word, that He cannot do what He says?

I'm not speaking of the path of our growing in Christ, of walking in faith, meeting the challenges, mountains, and giants that will stand in every follower's way. Of the real battles to be fought, but battles that in Him, are already won. We have the victory, and as Tiegreen says, our key to having and living in victory is to believe that you can. Do you, do we, believe that we can?

Every pastor and spiritual leader will tell you that the deepest pain they experience is in watching the people He has entrusted to them, live in continuous cycles of defeat. They fall again and again to the same enemies. Whatever progress they may make is negated by the constant defeats they experience. I believe that the greatest reason for their defeat is that the devil has convinced them that they can never overcome, never conquer, never have victory. They become convinced that this is just the way their life is going to be, and they make peace with that lie. They live as prisoners of war of an enemy who has already been defeated in Christ.

In the Old Testament, the prophets lamented that the people of Israel had become prisoners, slaves in their own land. The Promised Land, given to them by God, had been conquered by their enemies, and what was really theirs was taken over by a people who had no right to it. In the spiritual realm, that is what happens far too often to those who are His. God promised Israel that everywhere they put their feet, that land would be theirs. This is exactly how a follower of Jesus is to live as well. The ground we walk on, we walk upon in Christ. We are His feet, and where we put our feet, we also stamp as having placed His feet there as well. Wherever we stand is holy ground, because where we stand, He stands.

So, we come back to the question; is the witness of our life one that makes God a speaker of truth, or a liar.....at least to a watching world? Do we give evidence of being more than conquerors, overcomers, victors. Or, does the evidence point to us as being victims? Overwhelmed victims?

On the cross, as He died for our sin, Christ exclaimed, "It is finished!" All He had come to do was completed. The pathway to all the life He has promised was opened. Our part is to believe, fully believe, and enter in. As Vance Havner writes, "Whatever comes up, there is provision for it in Christ." It is finished. Do we believe that, or, do we make Him a liar?

Blessings,

Pastor O