If you call yourself a Christian, do you actually do what the Word of God says? Sure you read it, pray, and go to Sunday morning services, but do you actually live out the Word of God? Do you only try to be a good person and just get by doing only the easy things it teaches? Are you seeing or living out Acts 2:38-47?
Are you living out God’s dream or the American dream? Maybe living out your dream has nothing to with God’s dream for you. I ask this question because once my family and I started seeking out God’s will with all of out heart, mind, soul, and strength and quit worrying about what people thought of us, the real adventure began.
I think there are people out there that know what God wants them to do, but they are afraid to follow Him because of what their friends and family might say or think. Also, some people are not willing to give up their comfortable lifestyle.
My family and I don’t really buy a lot of new things anymore, but we do share with a lot of people and they share with us. A great example of this was the other morning we ran out of milk. I was just about to go buy some when a friend showed up at the door with 3 gallons. It was like 8:00 in the morning! We’ve also been given clothes that others have outgrown or no longer need. Some of these clothes are nicer than what we would have bought new for ourselves. We give clothes to others as well. It is really incredible to see God bless His children through His people.
Another way God blesses us is through our health care plan. We belong to a co-op called Samaritan Ministries. It is a group of Christians that help pay for each other’s health care costs. We pray for each other and share the load financially. We send our monthly check to someone in need in the co-op. For example, my oldest son needed to go to the emergency room for care at our local hospital. We let the need be made known to the co-op and we received checks from our Christian brothers and sisters to help pay for the emergency visit.
I want to encourage my Christian brothers and sisters to rethink how we do life here on earth. If we really believe this earth is not our home, we need to have a kingdom perspective and build up treasures in heaven rather than treasures here on earth. I encourage you again to read the book of Acts 1-4 and start living what you are reading. If we put our faith in God and not man, our example will be seen by all.
Fear God and not men. This essentially means respect our Father God. He deserves it.
For further reading check out Joshua 24:15 and Romans 3:21-31.
(Note: Before reading the following blog please know this story is about trusting and obeying God. It is not about health insurance being bad. But we do hope it gets you to rethink some things through in your life.)
Over two years ago when my family and I begin our journey in starting Worldview Warriors, we needed to head down a very difficult yet rewarding path on which we had many difficult decisions to make. These decisions would affect our whole family. One of the most difficult decisions at the time was what to do about health care.
You see, we had been trained, probably a lot like you are, that we needed and deserved health insurance and needed to have it since we have a family of 8 people. At the time we definitely didn’t have the money to pay for something called COBRA, which we could have gotten for a time to have some, “peace of mind” but it was far too expensive for our income. So, we went without health insurance for about a month.
One thing you don’t know yet by reading this blog is that my wife was pregnant with our 6th child at the time and she was due in October of that year. We definitely needed health insurance (or so we thought.) We even went through the hoops and paperwork to get the government health insurance that is available, but we knew deep down this was a mistake. We knew God was not calling us to use this government service. It was a difficult time for us because we had unknowingly been trained to think inside of this man-made system and to not have health insurance at the time seemed like utter foolishness. If you will, we had been trained to trust in human ideas and not in God and His ways of wisdom. God was calling us to obey Him and trust Him. So, we cancelled the government insurance and relied in God. This was about 6 – 8 weeks before our daughter was born.
About one month before she was about to grace us with her presence, someone contacted us and told us these words, “My husband and I have been praying and if we don’t pay for this pregnancy, God told us we would be sinning.” My wife and I were shocked, dumb-founded, and amazed! We hadn’t told anyone of our need and yet this woman of God was telling us that God had told her that they needed to pay completely for this pregnancy. This included all doctor visits before the birth, the birth itself, and any check ups with the mid-wife right after the birth.
God spoke to this couple about our situation. They heard Him and obeyed. Even though it was hard not to have health insurance, God blessed us immensely for our trust in Him. He is our provider.
Are you willing to completely trust in God? Are you willing to trust the God who gives you life? Take time this week to read about Abraham’s faith in Romans 4 and challenge yourself to live as he did. I encourage you to start following his example and see what adventure God has in store for you.
Next week I will continue this story and our journey of trusting God and His people completely. My family and I are continuing to learn not to trust in human ways of thought, but in God’s and God’s alone. Remember, human ways are not God’s ways. Man’s wisdom is utter foolishness to God.
Further Reading
1 Corinthians 2:14 - The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 1:17-19 - For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
Matthew 7:13 - 23
Acts 2:14 – 4:37 (Read just one chapter a day over and over. I encourage you to live life as the early church did.)
