Don’t be tempted to think that you can cruise on your faith because you’ve got God figured out and you’re familiar with all his ways. Consult him in everything, and always inquire of the Lord, confessing your dependence on him throughout the day.
Ever felt as though your faith were on cruise control?
Well, hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and it happens to all of us – you know, when you get up in the morning, you give God a tip-of-the-hat of a quiet time in the Word, you shower, dress, scarf down breakfast, and head out the front door on cruise control. Because, you know, you’ve done this before. We know God on a personal basis. We’ve been to Bible studies. We’ve memorized verses. We understand what it means to live the Christian life on a day-to-day basis. And so, we leave the house in the morning, thinking, “Lord, I know you’re my Savior, and so, you know, I’ll be sure to check in with you if I need saving, like, if there’s some big need, but I pretty much have the day in hand. I’ve got this Christian thing figured out. I’ve got the lay of the land, Lord, and so, you know, I’ll just take it from here.” That’s what I mean by living life on cruise control. And I tell you what, God disdains it. God resists us when we go through the day on automatic pilot. He resists the proud – and you know who they are, the ones who think they’ve got the Christian life all figured out. But James 4:6 says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And just who are the humble? Well, people who realize they cannot make it without the Lord, without his guidance, without his help. He gives grace to people who come to God in empty-handed spiritual poverty, believing the words of Jesus when he said in John 15, “Abide in me… for without me you can do nothing.”
You and I get into such big trouble when we start cruising on our faith, because when “knowledge puffs up” – and that’s the way 1 Corinthians 1:8 puts it – when it’s all about what we know – or what we think we know – and how we’ve got God figured out and are familiar with all his ways, we stop consulting him. We feel like there’s no need to inquire of the Lord about all our daily tasks; there’s no need to ask him about certain matters and decisions. You kind of understand his ways and so you go with your gut. But doing that ruins your faith. And here’s an example, okay? Like when Joshua was subduing God’s enemies in the Promised Land, remember those guys from Gibeon who came to Joshua? Oh, they were dressed in old, dusty, tattered clothes, saying, “Oh, we’ve come from a far land; we’re no harm to you, so please make a treaty with us; don’t kill us.” Actually, the Gibeonites were next-door neighbors. But Joshua believed them; it even says that “He thought it not necessary to inquire of the Lord.” Wow. And so, Joshua rashly made a peace treaty with them. He operated on automatic cruise control, thinking he didn’t need to rely on God; he assumed he had the situation all figured out. And you know the rest of the story – from then on out, Joshua had nothing but trouble from those people of Gibeon.
Romans 15 says, “Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction[s].” And so, don’t let what happened to Joshua happen to you. Don’t walk out your front door tomorrow morning on cruise control. Don’t live the Christian life on automatic. Always inquire of the Lord. Always lean on him in the smallest of tasks. Throughout your day, confess your dependence on him, and keep your spiritual antennae up, listening for the Lord’s guidance. These are hope-filled words for you today and every day, and all of us at joniradio.org join you in keeping the communication lines open between all of us and our great God. That’s your good word today from Joni Eareckson Tada sharing hope.
© Joni and Friends