You Cannot Cheat God To Serve God

         The desire of Jesus Christ is to give as many as heed His voice and follow Him an abundant life. Not a life devoid of responsibilities – for that would be reckless and carnal; but a life that comes with responsibilities towards God and our fellow men. He reminded us that the hour of seeking and worshiping God in ignorance and foolishness has gone: “But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). Thus, we cannot afford to tweak the Scriptures to suit what we want or the message we seek to pass across. Because of self aggrandizement, Scriptures are watered down or misinterpreted; this will simply not do. We must understand that all we do in life is recorded and all will give account of it, without exception and without excuses! “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and done many wonders in Your name?’ and then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22-23). When we engage in watering down the Scriptures in order to advance our cause, then we are in danger of the above Scripture. God is Holy and True and He will not jettison His nature for any creature of His. 

          It will be great deception on our part, if we pay lip-service to His lordship over our lives without obeying His will for it. So many may think they got away with it or are getting away with this terrible self-deception because they have great and outstanding ministries; they use His name and His authority to achieve great signs and wonders without walking in genuine and obedient submission to His word (NKJV, 1982). In other words, you cannot cheat God to serve God; it is not possible! In 1Samuel 15, God through Samuel gave king Saul very clear and specific instructions concerning the Amalekites and all that belong to them – the instruction was utter destruction to the Amalekites. King Saul seemingly carried out the instruction; he allowed his flesh to dictate and override the instructions of the Lord. Just like so many, he thought he could get away with it since he carried out a part of the instruction. Besides, he must have thought, the part he didn’t carry out was to honor God as well! Looking at the life of king Saul logically, we can conclude that he served God, after all, he never raised an altar to an idol, he was always sacrificing to God.  Unfortunately, his actions not sanctioned by God are a stark rebellion against the authority of God Himself! Sadly, our logically, well ordered thinking outside of God’s word are nonsense to His ears and carry dire consequences! King Saul felt he was answerable to no one but himself; that was why he could brazenly raise a monument to his ‘self’ to commemorate his actions. When confronted for his hypocrisy and rebellion, he arrogantly replied that he had carried out the instruction and he only brought back king Agag and the best of the cattle to sacrifice to Samuel’s God! In like manner, several children of God have felt they could contravene the word of God in one area but still continue to serve Him in another! That is like ‘plundering’ God in one area, and using the ‘plundered goods’ to serve Him in another! Their excuse is that they are still in the ‘faith’, no matter where they are or what they do. Unfortunately, such are walking in self-delusion! 

          Friend, you cannot cheat the same God to serve the same God, it simply will not do! Like Saul that transgressed the commands of God presumptuously but still remained on the throne for about 40 years, you may have a flourishing ministry or things may generally be going great for you, but friend, you are in danger of Matthew 7: 22-23! There is a need to stop and take stock: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified” (2Corinthians 13:5). God’s word remains the same and He is not going to jettison it for anyone: “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity’ (2Timothy 2:19). The things you say or do, where you are now, did God authorize them or you chose to go your own way with the excuse that you are still serving God? No wonder Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit said “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1Corinthians 9:27). 

        Friend, you cannot cheat God on a particular platform and hope to use that which you think you have gotten to serve the same God on another platform. Do a rethink, and instead of blaming everyone, humbly bow before God and ask Him for help and not stand against Him as king Saul did and lose. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength” (Ephesians 1:18-19). So as not to offer sacrifices that are abominations to Him, understand and walk in this truth: “This is what the Lord says: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house could you possibly build for Me? And what place could be My home? My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being…I will look favorably on this kind of person: One who is humble, submissive in spirit and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:1-2). God bless you as you ponder on these words!