Idleness

Idleness

2/4/17

This is a word that many of us live within the confines of on a regular basis and it is also a word that once accepted will end up being the death of us.  Our bodies were not created to stand idle on any level for there is always a notion of work that needs to be completed in our dominion.  God established this truth in the Garden of Eden and it is still in force today yet for some reason even the Church has chosen the idle position and thus allowed the enemy to run rampant his kingdom over the people of God.  It is God’s desire for us to advance His Kingdom instead for He understands that when He wins all humanity wins as well, both spiritually and physically.

All of us enjoy having days off from our employment settings and to be honest this truth is mentioned in the Bible, even God took a day off.  Rest is a good thing for our lives and each one of us needs it no matter how we feel about this concept.  A number of years ago, I was in contact with a mechanic friend of the family who we trusted very much with our automobiles.  Even though I was a kid at the time I was always amazed at how many hours this gentleman spent at his shop working.  After some time I asked him one day how come he worked so much, not really knowing what kind of answer I would receive.  He told me in a short sentence that his body did not require much sleep and that he could not just sit at home and do nothing so he chose to work as much as possible.  That answer got me to thinking about the concept of work and how when one works a process is completed or advanced and it was this concept that God would use in my life way down the road to explain His Kingdom and it works to others.

Much of what this message will deal with has been talked about before but God has once again dropped this truth into my heart and it is His desire for us to hear this message again.  God has never been an idle God or personality that sits around demanding work from others while He sits around and does nothing.  God is alive and His Kingdom is in a constant battle for your eternal existence.  Unlike thousands of human rulers before our time God does not force anyone to submit to His authority or subject them to torturous rigor until they sign an agreement to serve Him and advance His Kingdom.  God loves His people with an undying love and a divine love that we cannot fully understand but as long as we obey His Word we can continually feel this love in our lives.  It is through this love and obedience that should protrude from our lives and through this separation from worldly goods display the truth about God and the battle for our eternity.

God has never deviated from His Word, nor can He for His Word is eternal, pure and holy on all levels and it is man’s idleness that sells His Word short and presents interpretations of the Bible to satisfy the worldly conditions that we would rather serve.  It has been proven through an infinite number of examples that God cannot be idle and through this truth, it means that His Kingdom cannot lay idle either.  Since God is eternal and so are we that means that we are a direct participant in His Kingdom; think about that for a moment and then try your best to comprehend equality without this standard in place first.

It is easy for one to believe that they have not been a good representative of God and His Kingdom but do we realize just how simple it is to advance His Kingdom?  Do we even understand or recognize the small truths of His Kingdom and how to advance it?  Our enemy has done a superb job of deceiving us into believing that we must be on the missionary field in some distant foreign land in order to be “effective” in God’s Kingdom.  Through our blindness of kingdom truths, we have failed to recognize that praying advances God’s Kingdom and that even though this act is usually short and quiet it is one of the most effective tools that we have in our lives to hear from God.  God loves communication with you!!  And there is nothing more sacred and loving for Him to hear the voice of His child’s heart speaking to Him.  Many times I have watched people that I know who claim to be Christians who do not even pray over the meals that they have been provided, and if they do not do this small thanksgiving I know they do not have a direct communication time with God either.

Praying is not being idle in any manner but it represents the single most direct communication we have to God and therefore gives God the opportunity to work trough our lives so that we may witness His Word to others.  I find myself just telling God how I am feeling at a specific moment during the day and it really does not matter where or when I do this either; to be honest, I do not care as well.  I really wish that I could claim that I have always had this desire to talk with God on a continual basis but I cannot for there was a period of time in my life that I had no communication with God on my part and reached the point where my ears and heart could not even recognize His voice.  When I look back on this time in my life I cannot help but reflect on a time of darkness that can only be compared to as the dark ages of my life.

God established the definition and origin of “we” a very long time ago and since it is a known truth that God is not idle in any way it means that His existence cannot be altered in such a manner either.  When “we” were created it meant that God expected our lives to be in constant motion and since the pure and holy state of our existence was present first in our lives it means that when “we” is implemented His Kingdom is advanced.  God gave Adam dominion over the Garden of Eden and expected Him to take care of it, this is mentioned in Genesis.  God and his beloved creations talked on a daily basis and one can only imagine what those sessions contained but I guarantee you that a part of those sessions included of how Adam should keep up the Garden and the reasons why he should do so.  God gave His instructions to Adam and Eve on a continual basis and it is through this direct communication it provided for an active manner of life and not idleness.  Even when the lives of Adam and Eve were without sin there could not be any place for idleness, for God had already witnessed what occurs when an eternal heart fades into this state.

Today, we see many church denominations fall into the idleness category and while some find it difficult to accept, just look at the number of people coming to this nation for ministries TO this nation.  There cannot be any more detailed explanation and definition of idleness than having people coming into this country to witness to the people that God has ordained to be the eternal beacon of hope to the dying world.  When a candle fades away and then extinguishes itself all of the air is gone and the major fuel source is used up.  I ask you this: why is it that people from around the world are hearing the voice of God to come to this country and to reignite the candle flame of God’s Word into the hearts of those who He gave that candle to in the first place?  It is because the people of the Church have become idle and have forgotten what it means to be a child of God and what our responsibility is as such.

It is not hard to imagine that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Moses, Obadiah, Solomon, Jonathan, Ruth, Esther, Sarah and the countless other names mentioned in Old Testament Scriptures were not idle nor is it hard to believe that Jesus and His disciples were not idle either.  So what makes us believe that we can do otherwise?  We have instilled one lie in our hearts that is crippling the people that are hungry for God and who in turn are witnessing a great farce when it comes to the truth about God.  It is so great of an example of idleness and one that is so large in the heart of the Church, yet we fail to recognize it.  You know what, we have even sung about this truth too, for as long as I can remember we have sung about this truth yet we have abandoned the real truth about it and made this song of deceit.

The definition of being idle cannot be described in any better detail than to just define its meaning in one word, Lucifer.  It was Lucifer’s heart that was idle enough to want to disobey God and to have more power than the One who created him.  If Lucifer was doing what he was created to do he would not have had the eternal time to complete such a heresy against God and then would not be considered the father of lies.  For idleness is a lie against God and His Kingdom, period!  The song that is in question here is titled “Just As I Am” and it is a wonderful old hymn that I still love and hold dear to my heart today.  For if this song and its meaning were not true our lives and everything that God stands for would be a lie, a categorical sham to the heart of humanity.  But it is not for it shouts the truth that no matter what one has done in their life they can always find truth in God and eternal salvation through His Son’s blood.

The song “Just As I Am” as mentioned above is a great truth, but it is immediately after the last word in that title that we along with our enemy turn this ancient hymn into a lie, for as the title ends so does our belief that we will not continue to change after we accept God in our lives and Christ as our Savior.  God is not an idle Creator, He never has been and He never shall be either which means when He is allowed to truly enter into our lives He shall expose His Kingdom through our lives and advance His Kingdom towards others at the same time.  His presence will change our lives completely and place a desire to separate ourselves from the world according to His Divine Word, ANY other belief is a lie and a grievous lie that the Church has embraced and placed it up as a banner of constant display.

In no way can we accept God into our hearts and then sit back and not change our hearts to accept His ways yet still want to harbor the ways of the world.  The Church preaches salvation but has a tie on this concept by saying you can keep your worldly efforts and live in and as the Body of Christ at the same time.  Physically this statement is a truth but more importantly and eternally it is a lie from Satan himself one that will destroy you and the Church if allowed to continue.  God’s Kingdom cannot cohabitate or even work with the kingdom of Satan.  Satan’s kingdom is a result of idleness which is not in the vocabulary of the Living God.  How easy is it to hear the voice and heart of God when we have spiritually deaf ears?  I thank God every day that He accepted me just as I am but more importantly when I look back on my life I can honestly say that He has not kept me in the position that I was at when that time came.  He changed me and advanced my life as a testimony to His Kingdom and as a witness to the dying world.

There is no such thing of an idle Church but there is such a thing as an idle church and with the influx of ministers flooding into this country to witness to this nation we can easily define which state we inhabit.  When Jesus gave us His command to go into the world and preach the Gospel His words were representative of a living command and not one that is idle by any means. When God established His Covenant with Abraham He meant it as one that would reach into eternity which means it is alive and well and not idle by any practice.  So, why do we believe that our salvation can be based on any other principle or truth?  It cannot, for God is alive, His Son’s blood is alive and His Church should be a direct reflection of these two eternal live beings. God wants His children to act like a living Church according to the authority of His Word, not as some idle temple who accepts any belief the world presents.  We must never forget that what the world offers can only be an idleness in God’s eyes which means that when we accept the world into our lives we become an idleness to God’s Kingdom.

Church, think about this truth and word from God.  For it should hit home to our hearts like no other description that God has used to show us before.  Look at what our country is facing at this moment.  We are reaping the seeds of idleness and unless we change this pattern our idleness shall be the one seed that will grow quickly enough to provoke God on our lives in a devastating way that no man has ever witnessed in history.  God seeks an active and holy Church for His Son, one that has done her duty to reach a dying world.  Once we re-grasp the truth about the meaning and definition of “dying” and recognize that it too is an active word, we as the Church will shake off the sinful idleness and then rise up and complete this command that Jesus gave us and once again become alive in Him.

It does not matter what your portion of being a Church that is alive that you are called, for it is your obedience that counts when it comes to the Church doing what it needs to do.  Pray, seek God’s heart and acquire a longing to hear His voice in your life. Praying may be the only part you play, but what an extraordinary part that would be.  Writing, singing, leading, teaching, and many other areas are needed to change the status of the church to bring it back to being a Church.  How much work needs to be done?  Jesus said it is a dying world and the verb used here is an active one.

DLB