Follow the Signs, part 2

Join me as I share another excerpt from my book Follow the Signs.

YOUR CHOICE: YIELD TO GOD OR YIELD TO SIN

“Then there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, My Chosen One or My Beloved; listen to and yield to and obey Him!” Luke 9:36, Amplified Bible

A little over seventeen years ago I met a handsome young man on the back pew of a small country church in Carrollton, Georgia. My mom had gently coerced me to find a church home while I was away at college (even offering to visit with me), so she was there the day I met him. After overcoming much anxiety and my fear of rejection, I asked him out on a first date to a sorority social. It didn’t take many months of dating before I yielded my heart to Jeff. I saw his dedication and love for God and I wanted it, too. The majority of what I’d been taught about God was church doctrine. It seemed stiff and stale and I desired to know the God who was alive and active in His children’s lives. Over the course of several months, God became real to me and I yielded (submitted) my heart and life to Him.

Whether it was a few weeks ago or a few decades ago, most of us remember the day we submitted (or yielded) our lives to God. That one decision laid a solid foundation to our growth as a spiritual being.

If we’d continued in our life apart from God, we’d be like the man who built his house on the sand. Matthew 7: 24-27 (Amp) tells the story: “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell–and great and complete was the fall of it.” A strong foundation, whether it is a building or a spiritual life, is imperative to the future of that structure.

What Does It Mean to Have a Strong Foundation in God?

There is no pat formula for building a strong foundation in God; rather, as you spend time with God, He will direct you to the disciplines or activities that will strengthen the foundation He laid when you gave your life to Him. God is all about relationships. He desires a strong loving relationship with you. Relationships require dedicated time, give-and-take, sharing of our deepest feelings and struggles, love with no strings attached, and forgiveness when we mess up. All of these characteristics of a loving relationship with our Savior equal a strong foundation in God.

The stronger the foundation you build with God, the more He will draw near to you when you experience trials or face struggles. Why? Because He knows you. He knows your heart is directed toward Him and He promises to be near to us and strengthen us in all circumstances.

What Does Yielding to God Look Like?

The day we walked down the aisle to align our hearts with God was but the first of many times we will yield to God. Is it just me or have you noticed that yielding to God is a daily decision? At least once every day, I’m faced with a decision to yield to the sin that is tempting me or yield to God’s way of living. Let me give you a couple of examples to demonstrate my point. On selected nights, my husband and I love tucking our boys in bed so we can have a couple of hours to ourselves to watch a movie. We excitedly start the movie we’ve chosen – usually full of action and suspense – only to be faced with fifty curse words and several scantily clad women and/ or men in the first ten minutes. As much as we both want to relax and watch this movie, we are faced with a dilemma: continue to watch the movie even though we don’t want to be exposed to such things or turn it off? I have to choose to yield to God or yield to sin. I’ll admit that sometimes it is a difficult choice. Most times though, we turn it off and my husband practices his guitar while I catch up on my reading.

Why is it the little things are more difficult to yield to God? Perhaps we believe no one is looking so there’s no one to be accountable to. Or we might think it won’t hurt to do it just this once. But look at God’s admonition in Matthew 6: 22-23 (Amp): “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light. But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you [your conscience] is darkened, how dense is that darkness!” To watch a questionable movie is a little thing, but if we allow our eyes and ears to take in the inappropriate language and the exposed bodies then it becomes a part of us. It wouldn’t take too many compromises of the little things to equal a large amount of darkness inside of us.

What Are the Consequences of Yielding to Sin?

Yielding to sin sends a clear message to God that you choose the way of sin over His Way. Look at the stiff warning in Leviticus 26: 18-20 (Amp): “And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins. And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain] and your earth [as sterile] as brass. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.”

Moses was teaching the Israelites God’s instructions for living and these verses were a warning to what would happen if they chose not to listen to Him. Not listening. Isn’t that how the domino-like reaction starts? We know what His Word says about a certain temptation; yet, we stubbornly don’t listen and yield to the temptation anyway. The next time the temptation arises, it’s easier to yield to it. And the dominoes start falling. If we keep adding to the pattern of yielding to sin, He promises that the heavens will yield no answers, no blessings and no rain. Lastly, even though most of us are not farmers, relying on our crops for income, these verses promise that our labors (job, child rearing and service to others) will not produce the results we desire if we chose to yield to sin.

If our foundation in God is strong, we have His love, His power, and His strength to help us fight any temptation Satan puts in our path. But, we have to choose to yield to God instead of Satan. He won’t do it for us. And if our foundation is shaky, the temptations we face will be harder to resist. We will be much more likely to yield to the temptations Satan offers instead of yielding to God’s way of living. Remember the tree planted by the water in Psalm 1. Each time we choose to yield to God instead of yielding to sin the roots in our foundation are growing stronger and more resilient.

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