Can you distinguish among humanism, religion at its worst, and following Jesus?
• Our plans plus our power = Humanism
• Our plans plus God’s power = Religion (at its worst)
• God’s purpose plus God’s power = Following Jesus
It is easy to fall into the pattern of seeking God’s power to help with our plans (religion at its worst). How might we avoid this trap and follow Jesus instead? By remembering that God is always ahead of us, never behind us. We don’t tell God what to do but ask what God wants us to do. A healthy human life always begins with prayer. What is God’s purpose for my life? How will God’s grace empower me to fulfill his purpose?
A three-year-old was told by her parents that God was sending her a baby sister. Months later when the three-year-old was introduced to her newborn sibling, she said, “Hi, there, baby sister! Tell me what God is like because I’m forgetting.” Not only do we forget what God is like, but we forget the basic ordering of life. God leads, we follow. Prayer is part of how we know where God is leading, but there is more. Beginning next Sunday we will begin a series of sermons titled, God’s Guidance in a World That’s All OverThe Place.
We will be looking at a variety of issues. How involved should we be when it comes to determining God’s will for our lives? Can we over-analyze what God wants of us? Does God guide us to what we want or what we need? Do we just talk, talk, talk in our prayers, or do we actually listen for God’s voice? Does God have more of a purpose for our lives than a detailed plan for our lives?
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