Moving beyond Christian Philosophy

       

“The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still.”                                                                       A.W. Tozer    

       

                “Our theology must become our biography.” 

Tim Hansel

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Learning about who we are in Christ is important stuff. Remembering our true identity as forgiven, adopted, children of the King of Kings is essential to experiencing Life as God intended it. A.W. Tozer was big on theology (the study of God) and is famous for saying, “What we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

The problem is that many of us (really all of us), to one degree or another, have reduced our theology into a Christian philosophy rather than letting it grow into the kind of faith that pleases God.   

Christian philosophy is something that we believe in our minds but it doesn't make any difference in the way we live. It’s just a theory, it’s a philosophy, it’s a faith-based system, and nothing ever changes.

  

“Faith is the heroic effort of your life. You fling yourself in reckless confidence on God. God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us. Now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him… step out of the crowd and bank your faith on the character of God.” —Oswald Chambers

How is God specifically leading you to venture your all “in abandoned confidence in Him” today?

PRAYER: Father, I trust You to search my heart, mind and soul. Show me where I have let my faith be reduced to philosophy. I want a faith that becomes the “heroic effort” of my life, flinging myself “in reckless confidence” on You because of who You are, and who You are in me. Amen

Training to See God

Today’s Word Comes from: 

Proverbs 3:24-26

You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.

Today’s Notes from the Scriptures

David was confident that the Lord was always at his right hand (Ps. 16:8). His psalms reveal that in surveying his life, he saw God’s fingerprints all over it. Like David, we must train our spiritual eyes to notice the evidence of our heavenly Father’s presence.

Seeing with spiritual eyes isn’t a now-and-then kind of thing—it’s a lifestyle. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Those who walk before the Lord with a clear conscience will take captive unholy thoughts, habits, attitudes, and words. They cast out sin and live in righteousness. As a result, such believers have a spiritual clarity that sharpens their awareness of God’s presence and involvement in their lives.

I developed a habit years ago that has helped me to focus. When I lie down and talk to the Lord before going to sleep, I try to recall the events of my day. What I’m really doing is looking for evidence of God at work. How did He guide this decision? Answer this question? Protect me in this situation? Help me in this relationship? Appreciating the Lord’s handiwork a second time (even when the initial experience was difficult) etches the reality of His care deeper on my heart.

The evidence of God’s great power is all over your life, if only you will see it. Viewing the world with wide-open spiritual eyes changes one’s perspective. Instead of saying, “I can’t,” say, “I can because the Lord always enables me.” Live confident in our loving, omnipotent God, who dwells within you.

Pray that God would give you spiritual eyes today and change “can’t” to “Lord through you I can and will see the finger prints of God today.