Do you believe that God exists? I think I know the answer you'd give... so let me ask you another question, "Do you live like He exists?"
Suppose I invited you to my house for dinner. You knock on my door, I open it and you walk in but without saying a word or making eye contact. You sit on my couch and eat my chips and salsa that I put out and drink my cold Dr. Pepper that I bought from the store, but you just talk amongst yourselves without saying a word to me. You eat at my dining table on my plates, with my fork and knife the amazing steak that I just cooked for you but all without a thank you...and what if someone asks you, "Do you know Halim?" You answer, "Yea..." but all without acknowledging the fact that I'm sitting next to you. Do you see the lunacy of it all?
But the vast majority of people who say they believe in God, including you and me, treat Him this way. He is like oxygen...you couldn't live a moment without Him, but there are no thoughts given to oxygen. He is like the foundation of your office building, without it the walls would crumble and you'd die under the rubble of concrete and steel, but when's the last time you thought about the foundation of your office building? But if you were asked, "Do you believe oxygen exists?" or, "Do you believe there is a foundation underneath your building?' We would all say "yes" and then you would return to talking about things that really matter.
Do you see the problem here? Though God is the most important [KEEP READING]
As we have been preaching through the practice of honoring the Sabbath, I have been thinking about why it is that so many believers treat this commandment as "optional." Why do we say to ourselves, "Remember the Sabbath... sounds nice, God. Maybe I'll work it into my schedule next week"? We don't do that with the other commandments. Can you imagine? "Do not murder... that's a pretty good idea, God. Maybe I'll try not to murder anybody sometime soon."
I can't speak for others, but I think I tend towards this attitude because I see the 4th commandment as a blessing, while I see all the others as restrictions. God made the Sabbath as a blessing to me, so I feel like I can take it or leave it. But that just isn't true - He commands me to rest on the Sabbath, and so I must rest. It's a blessing, yes. But it's a blessing He commands. What a great God we serve, who [KEEP READING]