Who Do You Follow?

"He (Jesus) said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15

I keep planning to move on, but it seems God has more to teach me about the wilderness - perhaps because it's hard to move forward unless we understand what's holding us back. In previous posts, we have looked at sins that keep us from "wholly following" the Lord. While it's good to acknowledge and confess sin, I feel like there's more beneath the surface - kind of like treating the symptoms of a disease without addressing the cause. Maybe there's something deeper God wants us to see.

Why did Joshua and Caleb "wholly follow" the Lord when the rest of the congregation did not? My guess is that they knew WHO they followed and caught His vision for their lives. Wholly following implies complete trust. In order to have complete trust you have to know the person in whom your trust is placed. I've heard it said that our image of God is the most important thing in the world. Most of us don't have a very accurate picture of God. It's easily distorted by our own background and biases. So how can we follow a God we don't know very well into a new land? The answer is, it's hard and many of us opt to stay in the wilderness.

I just finished reading a book called The Shack, which I highly recommend. But watch out - it might just blow the walls off the box that you've placed God in, or at least push them out a bit. One principle it reaffirmed to me was rules vs. relationship; it's easier to live by a set of rules than in a dynamic relationship. At one point, the main character is having a discussion with God about this very thing. Mack says "It feels like living out of relationship - you know, trusting and talking to you - is a bit more complicated than just following rules". He goes on to describe "rules" as things like doing good, going to church, reading the Bible, etc. God affectionately chides him saying, "Mackenzie...the Bible doesn't teach you to follow rules. It is a picture of Jesus. While words may tell you what God is like and even what he may want from you, you cannot do any of it on your own. Life and living is in him and in no other." And later God says "it is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you." (excerpts from pg. 197-198). I would also add that they will never lead you to the promised land. Only Jesus can do that.

The Israelites experienced this first-hand. In Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses. Jon Courson says that as "a representative, a picture, a type of the Law, Moses brought the people to the edge of the Promised Land, but it would be Joshua, whose name is the Old Testament name for Jesus, who would actually bring them into the Promised Land." Galatians 3:24 says, "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." We will never enter a life of abundance by trying to follow the "rules". That leads to self-effort and legalism. Living by the Spirit is being in constant relationship with God. It is following a living person - Jesus Christ. Granted, God is mysterious and His ways are unpredictable at times, so this can be scary for us control freaks. But He is so wonderful. Where's our sense of adventure?

Side note: Last week I said that pursuing the abundant life requires purpose and discipline. By that I did not mean that it depends on our works. A better word for discipline would have been "self-control" because we have seen how sins of self-gratification can shut out the Holy Spirit. And without a sense of purpose (an idea of where we're going and setting goals to get there) we are prone to wander. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Not all who wander are lost". To which I say, that may be true, but you're still not going anywhere.

God does not force Himself upon us. We have to open ourselves to His vision and leading. To trust Him we need to know Him.

Thought Questions: What is your picture of God? Take some time to write it out. As Graham Cooke would say, "Is it time for an upgrade?" Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal any misconceptions you might have. Let Him speak to you about what He's really like. This may require a new perspective on some "old" Scriptures.