Don’t be so stuck in your ways that you miss the target of living the Way of the Lord
We don’t learn because we won’t change.
Luke 22:67: “If You are the Christ, tell us.”
I’m sure some of you have heard the saying “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” There are many instances in the Word where Jesus says this or something similar to this. Typically, He directs this comment at people whom He know will never believe what He says.
In some ways I think of people like this as those who itch to know something they can deny so they can believe more strongly what they want to believe. People like this don’t really look to direct their belief toward what is the truth; they look to make the truth contrary to what they believe.
In their minds, the thing that is contrary cannot be the thing that is true. I know this will make no sense to us, but it is the case today more often than not. We reject the truth because people make it contrary to the thing they want to believe.
Jesus responded to their request by saying “If I tell you, you will by no means believe.” Yea, this sounds a lot like saying, if I tell you, you won’t believe. Instead of rejecting what we believe because it is contrary to the truth, we want to stay the same as we are, so we reject what is contrary to who we are.
Jesus knows that those of us like this are just itching for an opportunity to prove what we believe more than to accept what we should believe. He won’t give us the chance to do this with His Word.
One of the reasons we don’t have a closer relationship with the Lord is because we won’t give up a close relationship with what we believe now and with who we are now. We cannot fit the Lord into our beliefs; we must change our beliefs to fit with who the Lord is.
And if we do not have a closer relationship with the Lord because we won’t change, could it be that we don’t have closer relationships with others because we don’t change? I think so. Some of us are so resistant to being told the truth that we will say we are fine with being who we are just as we are.
This is just another way of rejecting what should be for your life so you can hang onto what should change about your life. Jesus knew this about the people in His time and He knew that we would be this way today, so He specifically tells us we won’t believe.
So, what will you do now? Ask yourself, what things do I want to believe and to be and to do that keep me from growing in the way the Lord wants me to grow? What things do I hang onto that keep me from falling into the freedom to be something greater?
Jeremiah 10:24 says, “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; Not in Your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.” Don’t be so set in your ways that you are stuck in ways that are not of the Lord. We can work really hard at staying the same, as many of us do. Or we can make staying the same really hard for us because we accept the truths the Lord shares with us daily.
Lord, correct me when I am wrong. Lord temper me when I am right. And Lord, even correct me when I am right and lead me gently in your Truth always. Don’t fight to stay the same; fight to be careful to change so you can stay with the Lord.
Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
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