WHAT IS THE USE OF BEING A CHRISTIAN?
Have you ever in your walk as a Christian came to the place where you felt yourself making this statement. You have tried everything that you could but nothing seems to work. I believe that this is a valid question that needs to be asked not only from the perspective of being a Christian but also from the perspective of a non-believer.
You find yourself in the position that you have done everything that you believe God requires from you but still find yourself in debt, broken relationships and in a battle to survive from day to day. Does this sound familiar to you?
Do you have friends, family and even your pastor telling to hang in there something will give way and things will change for the better and after another year of suffering you find yourself in the same place and nothing has changed. You begin to question your salvation. You begin to wonder if this being Christian thing is really worth the effort.
Let me introduce you to my friend JOB. I always find that if I think I have problems I just have to check out the life of my friend JOB. Man he had everything…. Money, friends, family and everything that a man living in his time zone could desire.
Job 1:1-3 NKJV
(1) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
(2) And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
(3) Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.
He was the Bill Gates and the Warren Buffet of his time. He knew not the end of his prosperity, yet there came a day that my dear friend Job lost it all.
Job 1:20-22 NKJV
(20) Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
(21) And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
(22) In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
God allowed the life of Job to be turned upside down. God was testing the righteousness of Job. It is easy to serve the Lord if you are blessed, when you face no challenges or hardship. The challenge comes when your children looks at you and says daddy, mommy I am hungry and you can not give them anything, for God has not provided. When those who are close to you are dying and as the “Christian” you expected to pray for them for you have the answers. You pray and they die….. What do you do? How do we respond when we are down and out in the midst of trails and tribulations?
To make it worst in Job 2 God now allows the body of Job to become diseased. Would Job still remain righteous and not rebel against God?
Job 2:9-10 NKJV
(9) Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
(10) But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job did not sin even when he got sick and diseased.
Job 42:12
And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. [Job 1:3]
In the latter days of the life of Job we see that God has restored to Job more than what he has lost.
If we have to ask the question to Job…. WHAT’S THE USE OF BEING A CHRISTIAN?
Jobs response will be: “IT IS ALL WORTH IT.”
What is your response to this question? Do you only serve God because of His blessings and provision? Do you serve God for who and what He is?
If you are looking for a tool to assist you in breaking out of this place I highly recommend that you study my book called: “POSSESSING YOUR LAND”
Christianity in South Africa as well as over the world have become weak and powerless because we live our lives not from a relationship with Jesus but from within a religious mindset.
Another powerful resource that are available is OVERCOMING CARNALITY that is available at Amazon.
If the question whether it is worth following still surfaces in you in times of tribulation You have to check out your roots. What is your motivation in serving and following Jesus? Have you come yet to that place where you are the offering and the sacrifice in serving and living towards Him?
God bless you till next time.