“When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ ‘Here I am!’ Moses replied. ‘Do not come any closer,’ the Lord warned. ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’” (Exodus 3:4-6a NLT)
What do you think might have happened if, when Moses heard God call his name, he decided, “Color me gone!” And he’d run like crazy in the opposite direction? We obviously don’t know because Moses didn’t run. He took tiny steps of obedience that led to him becoming the obedient servant of God that led to Israel’s freedom from their 430-year enslavement to Egypt.
Think about that for a minute. You read that too quickly. If you consider each generation lived about 70 years, that’s minimally six generations in captivity. The people God called Moses to lead out of Egypt had only known slavery their whole lives. Their parents were slaves. Their grandparents were slaves. Their great-grandparents were slaves. Their children were slaves. You get the picture.
How do you paint a picture of freedom to someone who has known nothing but slavery? How do you learn to walk as a free person when all you know is to do what you’re told? Do you want to know the truth? There is no such thing as freedom except in Jesus. We all – EVERYONE – begins in slavery to sin! Slavery is an effect of sin; it’s never of God! The Lord Jesus is about liberation, not bondage; hope, not hopelessness; life, not death!
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, every person who has ever been born of a woman, except the Lord Jesus, has been born with Adam’s nature, with a bent to sin, a determination to go our own way and walk in disobedience to the clear Commandments of God. No one is ever free of the “commands” of our evil nature, governed by Satan and his devilish emissaries, until we’re liberated by an act of grace through forgiveness in and through the Lord Jesus.
How does this happen? The first step is Confession. Confession is a word that means “to agree with God’s estimation of something.” Before putting our trust in Jesus our attitude is essentially: “I like the way I’m living my life. I like doing things my way. I like being the master of my own destiny.” Then the Lord Jesus basically tells us in His Word. “That’s all well and good, except if you insist on ruling your own life and continuing in the way you’re presently going, you’re headed to a Christless eternity and an everlasting misery. Is that really what you want?”
It saddens me to write this, but most will still say, “Yes, that’s the only way I know, so I’ll just keep doing things like I have been and suffer the consequences.” Of course, they have no idea what they’re saying or what hell will be like, but their stubborn will, governed by their devotion to the ruler of hell, Satan himself, prevents them from changing their mind.
However, for those few who do confess their need of the Lord Jesus, the next step is repentance. That’s a military term that essentially paints the picture of an about face. We’re heading in one direction, but by an act of our will fueled by the Spirit of God, we turn from our sin and begin to walk in obedience to the Lord Jesus. What does that look like? It looks like one simple act of obedience at a time.
That’s the beauty of prayer, simple, straightforward conversation with the Lord. “Lord, what do you want me to do?” “Do this…” Is it really that easy? It is if you’re listening. How do I listen that carefully? Read, study, and memorize His Words found in the Bible. Read the Gospel of John, then go back to Matthew and read straight through the New Testament including John again. He will never instruct you to do anything that’s not in line with what He’s written in His Holy Word. Jesus said in John 10:27: “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” It just doesn’t get any simpler than that, but you have to be listening. One simple act of obedience followed by the next.
Are you listening?
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 