For or Against?

The push and pull of life can get you down.  From the moment we open our eyes, it seems we are ready for battle.  Whether it's fighting your body to get up and at 'em, dragging your kids out of bed or it's "time to make the donuts," life seems like a constant fight.  Some days we wake up with the fight in us, and some days we feel defeated before we even move a muscle.  The how and the why seem to escape us most days.  Oftentimes, we look to Heaven and wonder where our Champion is.  The reality is He has never moved.  It is we who have stepped away from the protection He freely offers us.

We often hear or even quote Romans 8:31:  "What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"  We say it when we don't know what to say.  When seemingly insurmountable circumstances face us, this Scripture is meant to bring comfort and peace.  Back up a few verses and you'll find Romans 8:28, "Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose."  Read all of Romans 8 and you will find evidence of God's constant protection, provision and peace.  I believe that all these Scriptures are true.  But, I have a question for you. . .

Are you for or against God?

From the beginning of time, God predestined each and every one of our lives.  Yes, He knew we would betray Him, curse Him, and doubt Him.  He even knew we would fight Him.  Desperate to hide their sin, our first parents hid themselves, lied to their Creator and suffered the consequences of fighting who they were created to be.  We are foolish to think we are any different than they.  And, just as they had a choice, we, too, have the free will to be for or against the very one who breathed us into being.

So, why do we fight?  What is it that we fight against?  Are we really fighting our Creator?  What has He done that causes us to fight Him so? 

Nothing.  We can shake our fists and cry foul play during our darkest hour, but in the end, we will end up on our knees.  King David lamented in  Psalm 42, "I say to God, my Rock, why have you forgotten me?"  Even Jesus Himself, . . ." uttered a loud cry, “Elohi! Elohi! L’mah sh’vaktani?” (which means, “My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?”)" (Mark 15:34, Complete Jewish Bible).  Even so, both David and Jesus rested in knowing God was always for them.

I could recite a litany of Scripture for you.  Instead, I ask you to look deep inside yourself and tell me what you see.  To truly understand how fiercely God loves and fights for us, we must understand who we are. 

Consider these words:  

Sealed.  Protected.  Purchased.  Cherished.  Beloved.  Redeemed.  Saved.  Set Apart.  Blessed. 

The common denominator between those words is YOU.  You may not feel that you fit the description at this very moment, but the truth of the matter is that you are all these things.  God, from the beginning, set out to show you that you are priceless, loved beyond measure and absolutely worth fighting for.  So, why do we claw and scratch and fight our way through life as if God is keeping us from the very life we deserve? 

Because we deserve better.  We deserve what God has planned for us.  In our efforts to attain all that we believe we are entitled to, we let our emotions, our circumstances and our surroundings define us instead of the truth.   Time after time after time, humankind has bent its ear to the darkness, listening to the lies that tell us that we will determine our worth.  Yet, our worth was settled long before you or I heard hurtful words, long before Jesus suffered on the cross, long before Moses struck down an Egyptian, long before Cain killed Abel and even before Eve took a bite out of the forbidden fruit.   "In the beginning, God. . ." 

As God spoke life into all creation, He knew our own hearts would fail us.  As He laid the foundation of the world, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27).   We were created in His own image, in the very image of God.  We don't have to know what He looks like, because all we have to do is look in the mirror.  We may not always like what we see, but the truth of the matter is WE ARE created in the very image of the great I AM.

So, who are we really fighting against?  The war within ourselves is very real, and we constantly feel like we are fighting against God and everything that surrounds us.  But, when we stop and think about the fight, do we really fight against the very One that gave us life?

The answer is a resounding "no."  We are caught in the middle of a mighty war.  Satan would have you believe that you must fight against God to get what you want out of life.  He twists and manipulates our thoughts, our emotions and our actions.  The Father of Lies would have us believe that we are unlovable, unworthy and that somehow God doesn't think we're deserving.  The truth of it all is that he is the one that has fallen from grace. Determined to make his war ours, he takes pleasure in turning us against each other and ultimately against the Lord.  God did give us free will - the will to choose His way or choose our own - and Satan will stop at nothing to bring us under the influence of the very sin he perpetuated before all time began (see Isaiah 14:12-17).

While it may seem like we are merely helpless pawns in a spiritual game of chess, the truth remains:  God IS for us and we are not helpless!   Whether or not we see His hand on our lives, He is always there, guiding our paths, allaying our fears, healing our hurts, and championing our cause.  We're the ones that get in the way of our own blessings.  We are a stubborn, rebellious, ungrateful, prideful, self-righteous, think-we-know-it-all people.  We have been that way from the beginning.  But, just as our ancestors of old had a choice to follow God or their own foolish hearts, we too, can follow either path.

So, who are you really for?  Are you for or against God?  His position never changed.  The real question may be, are you for or against yourself?  Let us go back to Romans 8, this time in verse 29:

"Because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!"

I think we can add to our list of adjectives:  Predestined.  Righteous.  Glorified.  LOVED.

How can we fight against such love?  Love that gave up so much, the very lifeblood of all humanity, given for us, to ensure we would love and be loved by our Heavenly Father. 

It's not easy to stop fighting.  The fight burns within us as we seek justice for all that it at odds with what we believe to be good and right.  But, I will ask you again, are you for or against God?  And, this time, don't be so quick to answer.  If you're anything like me, you'll be reevaluating your battle plan and ensuring you're on the right side of the fight.