Turning Away From God
It is easy to stray away from God. We must have a close, personal relationship with Him in which we walk with Him on a daily basis, or we will find ourselves turning away from Him to other things, other gods. That is what happened to Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived.(I Kings 11:4) If it could happen to him, it can definitely happen to us. Let's see what we can do to prevent this.
In Solomon's case it was his wives that led him away from God. His first sin was having more than one wife, but the wives he married were from pagan peoples, too. God had directly commanded His people not to inter-marry with unbelievers, but Solomon broke God's law. He justified it because of politics, but we can't justify marrying anyone who will lead us away from God. We must only consider being married to someone who will lead us closer and closer to God. Anything else can be tragic for our lives.
Also, Solomon did not live up to the standard set by his father, David. He should have been able to see his life drifting from God, because he had a great example and teacher. However, when we depart from the way godly parents have taught us to live, we will always have problems. We will justify sin, and we will turn to false gods. A "god" is anything that comes between us and God. It is anything that causes us not to do God's will. Therefore, we must keep the standard set by our Christian parents, or we must decide for ourselves that we will never let anything become more important to us than the Lord. Only then, can we live a life that gets closer and closer to God.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Kings 12-15.
In Solomon's case it was his wives that led him away from God. His first sin was having more than one wife, but the wives he married were from pagan peoples, too. God had directly commanded His people not to inter-marry with unbelievers, but Solomon broke God's law. He justified it because of politics, but we can't justify marrying anyone who will lead us away from God. We must only consider being married to someone who will lead us closer and closer to God. Anything else can be tragic for our lives.
Also, Solomon did not live up to the standard set by his father, David. He should have been able to see his life drifting from God, because he had a great example and teacher. However, when we depart from the way godly parents have taught us to live, we will always have problems. We will justify sin, and we will turn to false gods. A "god" is anything that comes between us and God. It is anything that causes us not to do God's will. Therefore, we must keep the standard set by our Christian parents, or we must decide for ourselves that we will never let anything become more important to us than the Lord. Only then, can we live a life that gets closer and closer to God.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Kings 12-15.