Following People, not The Lord
There is always a danger that we may follow people, but not the Lord. How many times have we heard of people who were part of a church as long as a particular pastor was there, but when he left, they stopped going to church? It happens too often, because people find it easy to be loyal to a person, but it is not as easy to know the Lord and to be faithful to Him. That is what happened to Israel. (Judges 2:7) They followed the Lord as long as Joshua and the elders who served with him were alive. Then, a generation arose who did not know the Lord, and they did not know what God had done for Israel, so they worshiped the Baals, instead of God. We must guard against this today, too.
There are really two lessons here. We must put forth the time and effort to have a vibrant daily walk with the Lord, so that no matter what happens to the leadership of our spiritual family, we are able to move forward in our faith, doing God's will and not forsaking Him. Also, we must pass on our faith to the next generation, so that they come to know the Lord, and so that they know what God has done for us and for our church in the past. This is vital. Please, remember that Christianity is always only one generation from extinction. If we do not raise up a new generation of strong disciples, Christianity will cease to exist. That is why the children's ministries and the youth ministries of our churches are so important. It is why we must teach our families to disciple their own children, too. Also, we must be salt and light, so that other adults around us come to know the Lord. If we do these two things, we will not see the falling away that Israel saw during the time of the Judges.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Judges 3-5.
There are really two lessons here. We must put forth the time and effort to have a vibrant daily walk with the Lord, so that no matter what happens to the leadership of our spiritual family, we are able to move forward in our faith, doing God's will and not forsaking Him. Also, we must pass on our faith to the next generation, so that they come to know the Lord, and so that they know what God has done for us and for our church in the past. This is vital. Please, remember that Christianity is always only one generation from extinction. If we do not raise up a new generation of strong disciples, Christianity will cease to exist. That is why the children's ministries and the youth ministries of our churches are so important. It is why we must teach our families to disciple their own children, too. Also, we must be salt and light, so that other adults around us come to know the Lord. If we do these two things, we will not see the falling away that Israel saw during the time of the Judges.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Judges 3-5.