Following Jesus is the Pinnacle of Human Experience
Lucifer takes the Christian born-again salvation experience and slanders it with one of his most deceptive lies. The world accuses the new Christian of having a weak character, of copping-out, of using God as a crutch, by relinquishing their throne and giving it over to Jesus Christ as Lord and Master.
This is the crux, the heart of the issue over sin. Lucifer tells man to remain in his fallen nature as a god on the throne of his life. But man was not created with the capacity to be a god. God is the only person qualified to sit on a spiritual throne.
When we push God away and continue to assume the unnatural position of being our own gods, we are spiritual rebels. Lucifer has led mankind to join his rebellion by getting us to think we are something we are not. Lucifer has deceptively gotten mankind to accept a job promotion at a divine management level that we are not qualified nor trained for.
What is incredibly remarkable about this whole affair is that God’s solution to the spiritual opposition of Lucifer fomenting rebellion within the ranks of mankind, once again is to brilliantly take spiritual darkness and turn it around upon itself. By enlisting mankind in his rebellion against God, Lucifer has unintentionally and unwittingly given God a wide-open door to expose for us the eternal key to peace and happiness.
The way to eternal joy and peace is found in knowing who and what we were created to be within a relationship with the Almighty God, and not in attempting to be gods in autonomous rebellion outside of fellowship with God. We are in our most blessed condition when we are living securely within our capacity as human beings, allowing God to walk in the very large-sized shoes that only He is capable of filling. This is a formula that will happily work for us for all of eternity.
Lucifer introducing sin into the world, and God’s illuminating answer to it, forever solidifies for us the eternal truth of being graciously, lovingly, unselfishly, and contentedly satisfied with being who and what we are…within the context of our creation by God (1 Tim. 6:6). We can exercise the most brilliant and creative God-given attributes, safe from destructive pride for all eternity, as long as we stay within the parameters of loving thoughtfulness and beneficial service to others, thanks to this all-important spiritual lesson we learn here on earth.
The divine character of the Holy Spirit living within the Christian makes this invaluable lesson…of death to our self-in-control natures through the cross, of the benefit of stepping down from the thrones of our hearts…accessible and comprehensible to us. The fact that God can craft this priceless lesson for us out of the challenging environment of spiritual darkness and rebellion… validates forever God’s claim to be a loving and all-wise God.
The power of Lucifer’s deceptive lie about Christians being weak because we rely upon God instead of exclusively on ourselves, when turned on its head, supplies an opposite but equal force in God’s rebuttal response.
Stepping down off the throne of our lives opens up the opportunity for an adventurous, unconventional, supernatural walk of faith following Jesus Christ, which by God’s intentional design contains genuine risk.
Accepting the risk of failure following Jesus Christ through a walk of faith, having no advance guarantee of success other than the Word of God, our current relationship with God, and our previous positive Christian experiences, is the opposite of being weak.
The step out of the familiarity of self-reliance into a new adventure of faith following God requires courage, not weakness.
The real truth is that there cannot be a risk/reward, courage filled walk-of-faith while we remain in the state of being our own god.
Two kings cannot occupy the same throne. That is why repentance is not weakness but enlightened good sense. How can anyone trust Jesus Christ about things over which we still maintain complete control? Until we surrender as rebels and throw down our arms in this issue as to who should be God…eternal life in the Spirit in a proper relationship with God…cannot begin.
Surrendering all to Jesus is the epitome of stepping out into an adventure of faith, in the one area that really counts for something…the course of our lives.
The Christian walk of faith is the exact opposite of the lie that Lucifer spins about the weakness of the life following Jesus Christ, when Jesus is atop the throne of our heart. Stepping down off the throne of our heart, turning away from being our own god, and inviting Jesus Christ to assume His rightful place as God, is the foundational cornerstone truth that will set people free to enjoy a life of peace and fulfillment for all eternity.
In a nutshell, this is the great end-times closing message. People are not gods. We were never meant to be gods. We have no business being a part of Lucifer’s rebellion. Lucifer is still trying to make his point in his rebellion, and he is using mankind as his foil, using people as his dupes. That is why it will be sheer lunacy to accept the end-times mark of the beast in allegiance to the Antichrist.
Jesus Christ selflessly died on the cross to set us free from ourselves in this deceptively miscast role of being our own gods. The Bible tells us we were created in the image of God, not actual gods ourselves.
Jesus Christ really is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, because the walk of faith orchestrated by God for us through this current broken world begins by correctly enthroning Christ atop our lives. Jesus Christ is our Savior and King for a very simple and practical reason…He actually is God…we are not.
The Cross in the Christian Life 