The God Gossip Game

"Not all those who say 'You are our Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven. The only people who will enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do what my Father in heaven wants. On the last day many people will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, we spoke for you, and through you we forced out demons and did many miracles.' Then I will tell them clearly, 'Get away from me, you who do evil. I never knew you.'"---Matthew 7:21-23 (NCV)




"The biggest liar in the world is 'They Say'."---Douglas Malloch







More and more, as I have been asking God to show me how to keep the Sabbath (Mark 2:27, Hebrews 4), how to really rest, I have been finding myself more and more excited about Friday evenings. Although I was fortunate enough to be born into a family that are original Sabbath observers (Matthew 5:18), it would seem that whether or not you keep God's Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening), or if you reverence Sunday as your "holy day", none of us rest correctly. Often when I chat with non-original-Sabbath observers, I find myself asking, "Why are you arguing about a right to keep a full day of rest?!?" Sadly, sometimes we are so busy trying to argue doctrine, to prove a point, to be right, that we get it all wrong (biblical laws stand on their own...there's no need to argue, by the way---Philippians 2:13-16)




Last year, I taught a class at a writer's conference. The facilitator is Jewish and he said there is a custom that they enter the Sabbath with. Every Friday night at sunset (because the creation calendar day is sunset to sunset (Genesis 1:5), not midnight to midnight. You can thank the Romans for that!), they ask each other, "What would you like to receive on this Sabbath day?" After the person responds, you place your hands on their head and bless them with it.




The beauty in it is that you give them what they asked for; not what you think they should have. (A whole 'nother devotional within itself!) The plus is that being that the Sabbath is the ONLY day that God blessed and hallowed (Exodus 20:8-1), like tithe monies (Malachi 3), one can be led to believe that while every day and all money are God's, there are certain special "treats" that come with Sabbath observing and tithe keeping. (Oh, and don't be moved by whether the masses do it or not. God is not moved by the popular vote! Genesis 7:1-7, Genesis 19:14-15, Matthew 7:14)




That custom is something that I try and put into practice now when I find myself around others on Friday evening. Blessing people is always a good thing and the benefit of this exercise is that it actually helps you get to know them better. After all, you can find out a lot about someone if you don't assume but ask; if you don't go by what someone told you, but what the person themselves have said.




That got me to thinking about my personal relationship with God. Just this morning, I was thinking about someone who is walking haphazardly into a situation all the while believing that it is of God. (Ecclesiastes 7:18---Message) When I asked God why, the Holy Spirit said, "They are doing it based on what they know about God. It's not much and so they don't have much to go on."




Are you serious? How could they not know God? They are in church every Sunday. They quote scriptures like water. They speak of God on a pretty regular basis. Yet, they don't know him?




Yep. That's what I said. Unfortunately, most people don't and those who think they do, as a direct result, realize they have a lot more that they need to learn.(I Peter 5:6)




It was then that the Holy Spirit led me to the lead scripture for today. It is indeed a sobering thought, isn't it? To do so much for the Lord and he in turn tell you that he doesn't know you.




Oh, but so many of us are in danger of just that.




It puts me in the mindset of the Gossip Game that I played in elementary school (actually, I just stopped played the Adult Version not too long ago, if you know what I mean!--Romans 1:28-32). You know it goes. Everyone sits in a circle and someone whispers something to the person next to them and by the time it gets to the last person, the original statement gets horrifically lost in translation; sometimes on purpose...sometimes not.




I think that is how a lot of us get tripped up in our relationship with God/Christ/Holy Spirit. There are so many scriptures that encourage us to go to directly to the source (Psalm 2:8,Psalm 50:15, Jeremiah 33:3, Matthew 11:28) and yet we would rather get information secondhand. Our lifestyles indicate that we would prefer to sit back and have our pastors, our parents, televangelists, teachers---people who we think know "more" or "better" tell us what "thus saith the Lord", but the truth (John 8:32) is that while they have a higher level of responsibility with their positions (James 3:1), there are certain things about us personally that, if we depended totally on them, would also get lost in translation; not because they are bad, but because they are human. HUMANS MAKE MISTAKES.




A scripture that I hold very closely to me right now is I Corinthians 2:13-16 (NCV):




"And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom but with words taught us by the Spirit. And so we explain spiritual truths to spiritual people. A person who does not have the Spirit does not accept the truths that come from the Spirit of God. That person thinks they are foolish and cannot understand them, because they can only be judged to be true by the Spirit.15 The spiritual person is able to judge all things, but no one can judge him. The Scripture says: 'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been able to teach him?' But we have the mind of Christ."




To have the mind of Christ, you must go to Christ FOR YOURSELF. This doesn't negate the purpose and power of ministry (it's powerful and needed---I Corinthians 14:12), but you can best believe that when you are approaching the gates (relatively speaking), God won't be asking where your mama or pastor is. It will be every man for himself at that point; about your relationship with him, how well you know him. (Ezekiel 18)




How do I know? Just look at what Christ said in John 15:4-6 (Message):




"'Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is-when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.'"

As we enter into another Sabbath, another weekend, I encourage you to refuse to play the "God Gossip Game". Don't get so dependent/reliant/lazy with what others tell you about God and his desires/plans for your life that you refuse to question it, that you don't go to the source. Not too long ago, I got really freed up (John 8:36) when I realized that when God gave me the spirit of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), one of the definitions of "sound" is "to investigate". GOD GAVE US THE POWER TO INVESTIGATE; to test the spirits (I John 4:1); to discern (Hebrews 5:14). We shouldn't be scared to use these gifts.

I don't know about you, but I've never felt close to people who sent me messages through someone else. It only took extra time out of my life (James 4:14) to go to the source to make sure the information was accurate anyway. When it comes to God and his plans for you, cut out the middle man ("man" being humans, not Christ) and go directly to him.

What he says in spite of what you've heard, just may surprise you! As a matter of fact, more times than not, it usually does.

©Shellie R. Warren/2008