Don't Quit On God Because Man Fails You
by David J. Stewart | March 2013
Colossians 3:24, “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”
Don't ever quit on God because people fail you. Many Christian believers
quit on God when someone(s) hurts them. Christians at best are people, and
people at best are sinners. You cannot put your trust in money, friends or
even family in life, because they'll let you down. But God is faithful and
will NEVER let you down. God will never hurt you unless it is to help you in
the long run. Emotional pain will either make a person sweeter and more
humble, or bitter and hateful over time. Some of the sweetest or most bitter
people are amongst the elderly.
Whereas the unsaved world grows bitter as they approach death, anticipating the end of life; we ought to be becoming happier with each passing day as Christians, knowing that this miserable earthly life is only temporal, and a wonderful Savior, heavenly family and mansion awaits us in eternity. John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” The Bible teaches that God will give ALL THINGS good to us as Christians in eternity (Romans 8:32). The Bible teaches in Colossians 3:24, “FOR YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST.” That truth should consume our hearts and minds. As born-again Christian we serve the Lord Jesus Christ!!!
Many church members quit on God because their pastor goes into sin. Contrary to the popular cliché of falling into sin, no one ever “falls” into sin. Sin is a deliberate choice. No one “falls” into sin. We all sin because that's what we want to do at any particular moment. Albeit, don't ever quit on God because a spiritual leader fails you, or disappoints you. They're just human beings like anyone else. Don't ever forget that the Churches are supposed to be hospitals for sinners. That doesn't mean that Churches are heathen entertainment centers. Homosexuals are welcome at church just so long as they don't try to cause trouble or interfere with the church service.
Gays are welcomed in the church, but they will NOT be allowed to promote the homosexual agenda in the church. If they commit lewd acts they will be asked to leave, just like any heterosexual marriage COUPLE. The pastor has an obligation to preach against the sin of lesbianism and homosexuality. Sincere truth seekers who attend United Church Of Christ and Unitarian Universalist churches will REALIZE QUICKLY THAT GOD IS NOT PRESENT IN THOSE DEAD RELIGIONS. My advice is to get out now while you still can, before you've been hooked in. These false churches don't address the reality of sin in the redemptive work of Christ. 18% of the members of the Unitarian Universalist Church are professed atheists. You cannot just make up your own religion. The Bible teaches in John 3:7, Ye must be born again, or you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God!!!
Many people make the mistake of centering their life and happiness around a human being, such as a spouse, but then if that spouse decides to divorce you years later, or dies, then your world has crumbled to the ground. The same is true of children, don't make them the center of your life, because they could be gone tomorrow. This is when many people put God on trial in their mind, blaming God and becoming bitter at God for the pain and suffering in their own life. Then what will you have? We should strive to make the standard of our joy and happiness the Lord Jesus Christ. The point to be made here is simple. Make Jesus Christ the center of your life and He won't fail you. Every man needs to have a ministry to lose himself in the work of the Lord. I rejoice because I know that my name is eternally written in Heaven, and I am secure in the arms of the Everlasting Father. My happiness is in knowing God and living for others.
Some people commit suicide, like a recent Country singer in Tennessee, Mindy McCready, who put a gun to her head and killed herself. She also shot her fiancée's dog first and then herself. She was overwhelmed with grief because her own fiancée committed suicide just 2-month earlier, David Wilson. She was deeply sorrowing and alone in the world. I am not judging any of them, God forbid. The whole story is sad. I cannot help but wonder if the Lord had been precious to either of them. When David was gone, Mindy couldn't live without him anymore, so she killed herself.
After being married for 40 years, the wife of famous Country singer Faron Young divorced him. The judge forced him to pay $1,000 a month lifetime alimony. Years later Faron developed prostate cancer and after 10-years of loneliness, heartache and pain shot himself in the head at age 64. So sad! Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a heartache. Everyone needs to know that God still loves them. Most people don't think that God loves them anymore, because they are living by sight and not by faith. The Bible teaches that Christians ought to walk by faith, not by sight (2nd Corinthians 5:7).
If we are truly saved (born-again by God's Spirit) and allow Christ to live in us as Galatians 2:20 teaches, then we can overcome all odds and stay on topside in life. 1st John 4:4 proclaims that Jesus Christ lives in every believer and is GREATER than the spirit of Satan that lives in this cold and cruel world of sin. That's the whole key to pleasing God in life, that is, walking in the Spirit that lives within us as Christians (2nd Corinthians 10:5). The Bible teaches that happiness comes from being corrected by God (Job 5:17). Happy are those people who (Psalms 144:15).
- Job 5:17, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.”
- Psalms 127:5, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
- Psalms 144:15, “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.”
- Proverbs 3:13, “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
- Proverbs 28:14, “Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”
Being a Christian doesn't make life any easier for us, but it makes life better because we have the promises of God and the Spirit of the Lord to comfort, guide and strengthen us through all of our troubles. True happiness comes from fearing God and obeying Him. I see many famous wicked people, who appear to be very happy in life; but the Bible teaches that their days are numbered before they go to Hell in their sins and unbelief (Ecclesiastes 8:12). I would rather be miserable and sad as a Christian in this hellish world, than to have all the wealth, fame and pleasure in this world and not have Jesus Christ as my Savior. I would rather suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I would rather be a door holder in the house of God, than to live in the Beverly Hills mansions of the wicked rich and famous.
I am 100% supportive of the local New Testament Church. Every Christian
should attend a local gathering of born-again believers if they can find
one. Godly churches are getting very hard to find. You'd be better off not
going to church than to attend a corrupt church that is going to weaken your
faith in the Lord. Most so-called churches these days are corrupt, not
churches at all, or are entertainment centers where the Bible is not
preached and there is no soul-winning. The biggest frauds of all are Roman
Catholic and Lutheran churches. They both teach that priests and ministers
have the power to forgive men's sins, which is totally unbiblical.
Don't Rely Upon Man To Keep You Spiritual
I am against the philosophy that attending church three times a week is supposed to keep a person spiritual. That's what many churchgoers have been taught to believe. What often happens is that a congregation starts following a man (or men) instead of God. The Word of God is the Authority of the Church, not men. When men become the authority, then you have a religious cult. The Bible teaches that we grow by the milk of the Word (1st Peter 2:2). I have heard horror stories of people BOTH in and out of church whose lives were destroyed by sin. Attending church is no safeguard against a ruined life. I've heard pastors teach that quitting one's Sunday School class will lead to personal Armageddon in one's life. The reality is that I've known lifelong church members to sin horribly and turn by the wayside. You had better learn to WALK WITH GOD on your own, and don't depend or rely upon man to keep you spiritual. Otherwise you may quit on God when man fails you.
Ladies especially tend to look up to their pastor, which is fine and natural, but when a wife begins to respect her pastor more than her husband, you've got a disaster in the making. Pastors need to teach the ladies in a church that their husbands come first, not the pastor or any other man. The husband represents God in the home; the wife represents the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Church is the easiest place in the world to backslide because you get so used to hearing the preaching and it doesn't affect you like it once did. It's important for a church to have many ministers where people can be involved helping others. Many churches are like Christian Science reading rooms, with no ministries. What a pathetic joke! Churches ought to be involved in the local community.
My friend, I know the pain of losing loved ones, and only the presence of God's Holy Spirit living in me got me through the tough times. Without God I wouldn't be here right now typing, I would have taken my life. Most people don't know what inexplicable mental anguish feels like, when suffering becomes worse than death, and death seems like a welcomed door of escape from pain. That's why people take their own lives, that is, to make the pain stop. A lot of people are hurting. Bodily pain, emotional pain, feeling overwhelmed, frustration, misery, persecution, loneliness and affliction can cause a person not to care, and that's a dangerous time for anyone; but God's wondrous grace, even in the darkest hours, caused me to KEEP CARING. The Biblical truth that God is always with me (Hebrews 13:5) and has a purpose for my life sustains me (Philippians 2:13). I've never quit and by God's grace won't. I am laying up rewards in Heaven, where my affections are set as the Bible commands in Colossians 3:1-3. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Homosexuality is not a biological trait, it is a choice. It is the wrong choice. Abortion is a choice, the wrong choice. Adultery is a choice, the wrong choice. Drinking booze is a choice, the wrong choice. By the way, I want to preach against booze for a moment here. Drunk driving is NO accident. It's hypocrisy to give drunk drivers lighter sentences than cold-blooded killers. No one made them drink the beer. Most people don't realize that alcohol is amongst the most deadly of drugs, a class schedule I narcotic. Schedule I means that a substance has a high potential for abuse and has no medical purpose. Alcohol is 100% a schedule I narcotic drug!!! From boozing Americans to the evil lawyers and the greedy beer cartel, we are a nation of binge drinkers (which the Bible calls drunkards). Drunkenness is a sin. Truly, the love of money is the root of all evil as God says in 1st Timothy 6:10.
Back to the point, don't rely upon people for your happiness, because then
your happiness will constantly be changing as people change. People pleasing
means that my happiness depends on others liking me. The only person that we
should seek to please in life is God. Revelation 4:11 teaches that God
created all things for His pleasure. That's why we were put here on earth.
If God is pleased, that's all that matters. It is a sin to live for SELF,
which is what Oprah, Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey and other wicked people
teach. Self has no place in the Christian life. Sinful pride means putting
self first instead of God. Women dress immodest because they are putting
SELF first instead of 1st Timothy 2:9. Abortionists put SELF first instead
of Exodus 20:13. Adulterous men put SELF first instead of 1st Peter 2:11.
Self and sin are synonymous.
The Sin And Dangers Of Gossip
I never read what my critics and enemies say about me. If I did, it would affect the way I write articles. I don't care who you are, if you think about something, it will affect you. A preacher cannot help but take things to the pulpit that he has been upset about throughout the week. I have heard so many preachers mention things in the pulpit that had absolutely nothing to do with their sermon, but they try to make it fit, because they are perturbed at someone. Every genuine preacher has enemies who despise the truth, are jealous and filled with Satan's hatred. I couldn't care less what my critics and the gossipers say about me. I just don't read it. That way they have no power over me whatsoever. All they can do is run their fingers on the internet, or their mouths in someone's ears. God will deal with them (James 4:12; 5:9). I decided long ago that God was the only Person I was going to try to please.
My ministry is for that 1 lost sheep out of 100. I couldn't care less what the arrogant, jilted and hypocritical self-righteous other 99 think. That 1 person out of 100 is the reason why my ministry is here. Thankfully, out of 45,000,000 visitors over the past 11 years, tens-of-thousands have been blessed and helped in the Lord because of this labor of love. Amen and amen! Thank you Lord!
We should only place our trust in God, because even the best of Christians are still inherent sinners BY NATURE. Becoming a born-again Christian doesn't eliminate the old nature (the flesh). The flesh CANNOT be tamed, anymore than a wild and dangerous beast can be tamed. In 2003 the famous tiger entertainers, Siegfried and Roy found this out the hard way. At 59-years of age, Siegfried was almost mauled to death by his 7-year-old white tiger in Las Vegas, who he had raised from a baby cub. A wild animal is unpredictable, and so also is the human heart and flesh. The old sin-nature cannot be tamed, no matter how much we may try to reform it, rehabilitate it, educate it or legislate it. The only hope of mankind is a NEW NATURE, which is the Spirit of Jesus Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:9). That's why as Christians the Bible says that there is a constant BATTLE between the Spirit of God and the sinful flesh (Romans 7:14-25). If you trust in people, you will eventually be disappointed. All men and women are sinners. I admire many preachers, and promote them because they follow the Lord, but my first and foremost loyalty is in Jesus Christ alone.
The Bible teaches that all mankind is sinful. No one is a shining example of what a person should be. And many people who have been uplifted as shining examples were later found to be hiding some dark secret sins. Every honest person has something shameful in their past that they hide from others. The Bible teaches in 1st John 1:8-10 that an unsaved person, who has not the truth, denies their guilt of sin. Everyone sins. Everyone commits evil at times. One of the most horrible sins is self-righteousness, condemning others, gossip and hypocrisy.
Perhaps the greatest sin of all is pointing a finger of condemnation, murdering someone with our words of gossip. Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5 that when we point a finger of condemnation at others, that there are three fingers pointing back at us. Biblically, a hypocrite is not someone who sins. We all sin and are phonies to some extent. If we understand that truth, then we will love and accept one another instead of devouring each other. Galatians 5:15, “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Proverbs 11:9, “An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.” Gossip and spreading the sins of others is a horrible evil in God's eyes. The newsmedia are as evil as Satan, accusing others day and night (Revelation 12:10). If you've been hurt by the malicious hate and gossip of others (and the internet is gossip city), rest my friend in knowing that God will hold all men accountable for their every word (Matthew 12:36).
