Rediscovering The Truth About Creation

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The first of the three principles for right spiritual living concerns having the right attitude toward God. As a Christian, I live and have lived by a very simple philosophy. I do not wish to live my fifty, sixty, seventy, or however many years on this earth, only to die and learn that I did not do with my life exactly as the Lord had wanted. Therefore, in a very human way, I try to live each day for Him, as best as I am able, and I constantly try to be sure that I am where He wants me, doing what He wants me to be doing. While I often do not live up to this lofty objective and sometimes even miss it in a big way, my daily goal is still to be faithful to my Saviour and Lord.

For that reason, toward the end of the 1980s, I prayed and asked the Lord to show me what was most important to Him, that is in terms of my personal Christian walk. When I prayed that simple, earnest prayer, He gave me an answer which I have never questioned. For one thing, His answer reminded me once again of His basic simplicity. The Bible gives each of us a very clear, easy to understand, straightforward, positive command relative to what the Lord truly wants from each of us. In fact, my opinion is that this is the single most important teaching in the Bible! Therefore, if a person can only get one thing right in this life, then this is the one!

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments [1]."

Concerning this matter of right spiritual living, understanding a basic truth might be helpful. That truth is that the Lord is very simple, but the devil tries to make things complicated! Through the years, I have observed many good people argue over a variety of silly Christian issues. Yet, when I asked the Lord, after having spent almost twenty years of my own arguing some of those same issues, the above verses gave me His answer. It was then that I really saw God's absolute, unchangeable simplicity. It was then that I also saw the devil's never-ending attempts to confuse and complicate that which is so simple. The Lord always provides simple, straightforward instructions. Yet people, because they are so easily deceived and distracted by the evil one, have always quickly gotten off track. These things should not be, but of course, most of us know that they are. So, the question must be asked. What does God really want from each of us?

Does He require that we be real good so that we can single-handedly close the sin gap with Him? No. Does He require us to be brilliant enough to see through the deception of the Big Bang theory and the Theory of Evolution? No. Does He require us to understand all the ins and outs concerning the validity of the Faith? No. In as simple terms as humanly possible, my conclusion is that He actually only wants one thing from any one of us. He wants our love! He wants us to love Him first and above all. Then, He wants us to love one another as we love ourselves. Unfortunately, most of us do not do these things! Even among Christians, most of us do not.

Part of the problem that keeps us from living right spiritually is our never-ending captivation with self. Most people are naturally selfish, that is they care about themselves much too much to really care about either God or others. As was discussed in an earlier chapter, the system around us actually encourages a person to have a self-centered approach toward this life. We are taught from an early age to seek our own good and to establish our own life, rather than to focus our attention on the good of others. Almost from birth, each of us is told that getting a good education and job are supremely important. We are surrounded by "things" and taught that maximum happiness is somehow tied to quantity and substance, instead of quality. But to please God, one cannot fall for this deception and those distractions. To really please Him, an individual must be driven by a completely different priority scheme, one which puts God and others before oneself. While education and jobs do have their places in this life, those worldly pursuits in God's eyes are not most important or even among the things to be most preferred.

The second theological principle for right living addresses having the right attitude or right focus toward the important matters of this life. Great emphasis in this society is placed on worldly success. Yet, for an individual who lives only for a short while on this earth, how important really is such success? The answer in my mind is not very. A much smarter way to approach life is for an individual to strive to live equally well on both sides of the grave, and even though these words do not exclude or look down on being successful or even well off, they also do not endorse that lifestyle, either.

This idea about right living or of living equally well on both sides of the grave addresses how one should treat various events in life. It also deals with the level of effort with which one should approach those events. The main thinking behind this simple principle is that an individual should strive to pay the right amount of attention to each of life's predicaments. Paying too much attention, on the one hand, can cause undue stress and anxiety, while paying too little can cause one to fall short of his or her hopes, dreams, and expectations. In all instances, one would be most prudent to consider life from both sides of the grave.

The reason people feel so much stress, anxiety, and pressure in this life is because they do not have the peace of God in and on their life. They have probably paid too much attention to the concerns which are on this side of the grave, and in so doing, have probably almost completely ignored the much more important matters of right spiritual living. The real key to having the right approach to this life and also to living equally well on both sides of the grave is to totally submit oneself, as Jesus did on the cross at Calvary, to the will of the Heavenly Father. While such a solution might sound terribly basic or even trivial, it is one which works!

Unfortunately, the devil does not sit idly by and let a person pursue a well-balanced, spiritually right lifestyle. He will always try to discourage any action which seeks to bring that person closer to the Lord. In many cases, his strategy is fear. By still using his same devices of deception and distraction, he can cause an individual to literally worry or fear about the physical needs of this life. That is why so many people have put such a high value on worldly things, like education, nice jobs, good careers, and money. We, as individuals, have been and are being tricked into thinking that the physical needs of today are somehow more important than the spiritual needs both of today and the future, but this is another lie of Satan! He wants us to live only for today! He also wants us to only concern ourselves with matters on this side of the grave. His goal is to do whatever he can or whatever it takes to keep us from the Lord. To combat him and all his devices, a person must do as the basic theme of this second principle has prescribed. He or she must strive to live equally well on both sides of the grave!

To follow through on such a simple approach to life, one must be able to trust the Lord in all things. The devil, as was just stated, will try to cause a person to stumble by causing that person to fear for the physical needs of this life. We can oppose him and rise above that fear by trusting the truth of God's Word. The Apostle Matthew, in quoting Jesus, gave us the information that we need, as he wrote:

So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own [2].

Those who would pledge their all to follow Christ have a real challenge as they must thwart off the never-ending attacks of Satan. The devil really is an awesome enemy! He is very good in his warfare against God. However, we have the encouragement, hope, and promise of many important Bible passages, including the one above, where Jesus told His followers that God could and would take care of them. The only requirement for those early followers, as well as for us today, is that we seek Him first. After that, we become the blessed recipients of His marvelous provision.

I believe that the passage recorded in Matthew 22:37-39 is the most important in the Bible. It gives a positive command which anyone can understand, and this command is one which tells us to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In this present world, with all the complexities of various religions, we need the simplicity of that easily understood instruction. I believe the above passage from Matthew, Chapter Six, is the second most important. We live in a system where the stress and pressures of simple life are enormous. Plus, they are real! Just trying to make a living during these present times can be tough, and trying to keep perspective about what is truly important can be nearly impossible.

Nevertheless, if we will just strive to live equally well on both sides of the grave by daily practicing the lessons of both passages, then we will have two very important spiritual principles to get us through. While on earth, Jesus emphasized and demonstrated both of these truths. He taught us to love our Heavenly Father above all and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He also taught us to seek God first and to trust Him for all our needs. As we pursue each day on this side of the grave, our intents and goals should be to do exactly as He taught concerning both of these life-giving principles.

The third and final principle for right spiritual living deals with having the right attitude concerning matters of stewardship. One might have thought from reading the first principle that life is meant to be sitting around expressing words of love towards God and others. Similarly, one might have concluded from reading the second principle that life is just sitting around waiting for God to give us everything we need. But as the third principle will show, the real message should be that neither of those thoughts or conclusions about the first two principles is correct. Nowhere in Scriptures or anywhere else is it taught or implied that we as Christians should just sit around. The third principle just by the nature of its connotation suggests otherwise. This third principle for right living, in my opinion, concerns stewardship or that of being a caregiver!

According to the Bible, God requires each of us to be a good steward in this life, with our life, for all our life, as the following words by the Apostle Paul indicate:

You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: "As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God." So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God [3].

The significance of being a good steward was backed up by Christ as He taught others about the importance of being trustworthy. In Matthew 25:14-30 and again in Luke 19:11-27, He shared the same parable about three servants who had been entrusted with another man's money. Each was expected to put that money to work and then to have some kind of gain to present upon the man's return. The servants were not given the same amount, and they were not expected to bring back the same return! But each was expected to do something, and each was expected to return something. The same is true for each of us. While God has not given exactly the same measure to all, He has given something to everyone, and He does expect a reasonable return on His investment.

In ordering one's life, a person would do well to apply each of the above three principles for right living. That means that to whatever extent it is possible that we should determine to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In my life, I have made this objective my number one priority. Secondly, because we do love God and do desire to put Him first in everything, we should also choose to trust Him completely, to both take care of us and also to meet our needs. I face each day with the realization that He is my Lord and that I must look to Him for those things which I require. However, our Christian walk should not stop there! To satisfy the important requirement of stewardship or of caregiver, we should also try to apply some definite rules for good stewardship so that we might more fully glorify the Lord in all aspects of our life. If there are things or areas in my life which require attention, then I definitely want to be responsive to each one.

For that reason, I have attempted, with the Lord's help, to define for my own understanding what stewardship really means to me. As I have already suggested, I do not want to live my whole life doing one thing or even a series of things, only to die and learn from the Lord after it is too late that He actually wanted me somewhere else, doing something else. My intent, therefore, is to get it right the first time and to not be caught off guard or out of position! In accordance with such a lofty objective, I have subdivided stewardship into four different categories, and my goal is to be a faithful caregiver to and over each. These four categories, even though I will not elaborate on any of them in this book, are care for self, care for family, care for others, and care for possessions. My opinion is that the Lord has given most of us these same four areas around which we can and should organize our life.

To me, stewardship includes many areas of one's life, and even though it is not always easy, I try to hold myself accountable for each. Yet, as I study Scriptures, I am convinced that trying to be a good steward does not have any impact on my standing with God or my position in Christ. In other words, I do not attend to any of these different areas of stewardship in my personal life so that I can keep what I already have in the Lord. I also do not do any of the other things which have been mentioned in this chapter just because I am trying to protect or enhance what I already have in Him. Instead of being a good steward so that I might obtain, I try to be a good steward because I have already obtained! For me, the conclusion of this whole matter is not very difficult. As good stewards, we should learn to work hard, be diligent, be content, and then, to let the love of Christ dwell in us richly.

From a thorough examination of God's adversary, the devil, and his devices and also from a careful consideration of each of the above three philosophical concepts for right living, one should be able to see that these three very straightforward, totally Bible-based concepts can and should be the bases or driving forces in each individual's life. To please God, one does not need to be brilliant, have or make a lot of money, possess a great job, or even pursue any of a number of other worthwhile, earthly pursuits. While those are nice to have and maybe even nice achievements to make, such outward signs of success are all well down the line from those pursuits which are most important. In fact, none of the worldly gains which most people seek or would seek are necessarily what the Lord requires or even desires from or for most of us. At the same time, though, one can cover both sides of that issue by saying that being destitute and miserable is not His way, either. Nowhere in Scriptures does He call any of us to a lifestyle of nonstop church, no fun, no possessions, poverty, and misery. The real truth and proper conclusion for all to reach is that what God wants for each of us as individuals is always a perfect match to what is best for us.

To summarize what much of the fourth part of this book has been about, one should be able to see that many have been neglectful when it comes to really addressing the important spiritual issues of life. They have let themselves be deceived about spiritual matters by a very clever adversary and by the very subtle workings of the system around us. Because of the ungodly influences of that system, many people have let themselves be distracted from God by the cares of this world, even to the point of not having or taking time to study about the Word as they should. They have let themselves become overwhelmed, which is really just another form of distraction, by all the complexities of trying to answer the difficult spiritual questions, and they have let themselves be lazy, even to the point of never really getting started.

If indeed, as many believe, ignorance is bliss, then the actual validity of that statement only lasts for a short while. In other words, ignorance in the long term is not bliss! If anything, the opposite is true! Concerning eternal spiritual matters, even concerning matters of living this life rightly, knowledge is much more valuable than a lack of the same. This book has been dedicated to providing just that kind of knowledge, first by rediscovering the truth about our Creator and second by showing how a person can have the right kind of relationship with that Creator.