"If God Were Real"

Something has been hammering me a lot lately....

It started when I was having a conversation with some new friends, Ben and Kari Mitchell. Kari told me a story about a friend of hers who, by God's grace, was able to be the instrument in a miraculous healing in the mission field. Her friend said that despite the fact that God was telling her to command a lame man to get up and walk, she at first hesitated, thinking "God doesn't do that anymore. It must be just my head." Thankfully, she listened to God and not herself, and a new brother in Christ has the use of his legs again.

A few minutes ago, I read a note on Facebook where a young woman had been experiencing trial after trial, and through a series of seemingly unconnected events, ended up reading (in someone else's devotion) a verse from the Bible that brought her peace in a time when she needed. She qualified her note by saying, "I know some of you think this is just coincidence, but..."

Recently, my former pastor published a book he has been working on for the past couple of weeks entitled If God Were Real. In this book he makes a simple statement: Christians, especially in America, today don't act like God is real, and if we did, things would be a lot different in our churches.

Of course a lot of us agree with him at face value...we could always improve our faith. But I really wonder just how bad things are. In the Eastern Hemisphere, spiritual warfare is a daily constant struggle. Demons are cast out daily, miracles happen, and entire people groups are led to Christ, even in the midst of persecution from other religions. And yet, here in America, many people don't even believe in the devil, miracles are credited to modern science instead of God, and we have to beg and plead or "be creative" to get just one person to accept Christ on weekly basis, if even that often.

If God is truly God, and not an excercise in heritage or tradition, then why are we so slow to share with others the faith that we claim to have. If God is God, and not just a crutch to believe that sickness and hardship will pass, then why do we fret when things out of our control attack us? If God is God, and His words are not just suggestions about how to live a righteous life, then why do we so easily ignore the lessons that are written in His word for the sake of self-gratification and tolerance?

I've been convicted (and I know I've been using that word a lot lately) of how I view the God I serve. I'd ask that agree with me to start living as though I believed God were real. We all say that we do in word; let us live it out in our lives through action.

Feel free to comment or ask questions. I'm always here.

Keep Soaring,

B