No, this is not a Hindu story! I
was watching this movie some time back about a former criminal becoming a “preacher,”
who was talking to his wayward son. The prodigal son had returned home and
apparently said something that his father questioned! The reverend asked his son,
“You don’t believe in God now!?” The son replied to the reverend, “I have no
beef with God, but I don’t go out of my way to please him either.”
The
son had made his way home again, but it was readily apparent that he was still
in prodigal mode, unlike the prodigal son of the Bible, Father I have sinned against heaven
and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son (Lk 15:21). It sounded as if the reverend’s son was still conflicted about many things; he was angry with God, the world, and his father. So much for the
prodigal returning home a changed man.
Well,
that behavior comes across like a mixed bag of not worth delving into on my part concerning the
spirituality of a make-believe character from a movie that I cannot even
remember. Nonetheless, those words by this actor depicting a reverend’s son with
a bad attitude snagged my attention.
These statements are the words that we
would normally associate with a religious lost man or an agnostic or even a
backslidden believer, but can a believer express these kinds of thoughts and
still think all is okay with God? Shockingly, I know of believers who say, “No,”
but their lifestyle says, “Yes!” You can’t make this stuff up (cf. Jas 2:17, 18)!
Hollywood
is well-known for portraying Christians as weird, fanatical, narrow-minded, obtuse,
offensive, esoteric, self-righteous, et al. Often, they are looked upon as abnormal
and atypical people standing out from society in general. True believers will
never get a true portrait of Christianity from the Hollywood mentality. We can’t
expect people who are spiritually blind to portray believers correctly,
darkness portraying light that they have never seen (cf. 1 Cor 1:18; 2:14; 2 Cor 4:4)!
We
should not be surprised by the behavior of lost people in going against the
grain of Scripture. It’s what they do; it’s who they are! Lost people do lost
things; they love darkness; they do not know the LORD (cf. Jn 3:19). In
contradistinction, the importance of obedience to the commands of God is that
it expresses our love for God and identifies us as a people of God who
are distinctively different than the world; we love light rather than darkness!
What makes us common with the world is that we are all sinners (Rom 3:23; 5:12), but that which makes us uncommon with
the world is that Christians are saved
sinners, transformed by the grace of God from darkness to the light (Eph 2:8-9;
5:8; 1 Pet 2:9). What
should be a heartbreaker are believers thinking, speaking, and acting like the
lost or those who have truly never experienced spiritual regeneration. Now,
that’s hypocrisy – light portraying darkness.
The Prince of Darkness will
mimic an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14), but the Light of the world
will not impersonate darkness, for He cannot and will not; for He is holy. Thinking, speaking, and acting like the darkness are forbidden as children of light (cf. Eph 5:8).
Let
me give two spiritual realities rooted in the words of this actor playing the
prodigal son: “no beef with God” and “I don’t go out of my way to please him
either.” These words may have more relevance to believers than we might think!
1. We may have no beef with God, but He may with
us (cf. 1 Jn 1:9).
2. There is no way to please God apart from faith (cf.
Heb 11:6).
Spiritual
reality #1, we may have no beef with God (How can the sinful have an ax to grind
with the sinless?), but He may with us. Have you ever heard of people using
ignorance as an excuse for disobedience? Do you think that ignorance works well
with the IRS or appearing before a judge and our only defense is ignorance?
I
was driving along a narrow road in the middle of nowhere in Texas a few years
back where the speed limit was 70 mph. Then it suddenly dropped to 35 mph with
little warning. If I had missed that small sign just up ahead, I could have been easily
cited for going 35 mph over the speed limit! That had to have been one revenue-generating
sign for that little town without a traffic light!
The
truth of the matter is that God has a beef with the willful spiritual ignorance of
a believer because we have the whole canon of Scripture at our fingertips. This
is a real problem in Christianity; people just don’t like to read or think things
through spiritually or be spiritually disciplined to the things of God in their
lifestyle. They don’t work the Word in their lives.
Whenever
readers complain about the length of my blogs, I can’t help but wonder if they
have a problem with the volume of Scripture. People are allowing more data from
the world to enter their hearts and minds rather than the Scriptures and other spiritually
healthy content. It is hard to fill a cup that is already full, and therein lies the problem.
How
can we obey what we don’t know? How can we say we love God and remain spiritually
ignorant of the Word (cf. Jn 14:15)? We can’t live in spiritual ignorance year
after year, praising Jesus and thinking that God is pleased with us. The truth
is that God does have a beef with believers remaining spiritually ignorant of
His Word. Spiritual ignorance accommodates sin. Look at that word, “confess,” in 1 Jn 1:9,
If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This
is not a verse pertaining to salvation but fellowship with God, a byproduct of
salvation. Confess literally conveys the idea of agreeing with God about
something – our sins. The problem is that many believers are clueless when they are out of
agreement with Yahweh which is another way of saying that we are being sinful
and unrighteous.
God is holy and all that He thinks, speaks, and does are holy
and consistent with His nature. Failing to live according to His Word is violating
our agreement with God to love, live, and serve only Him. We cannot be holy as
He is holy and be out of sync with His Word. As believers, are we not claiming
that Jesus is our Savior and Lord?
We
allow this disagreement with God to become protracted out of ignorance or
stupidity; in our rebellion, we are not getting the signals that God is not
pleased with our lifestyle. Then we see the beef of God in such a way we cannot
miss it. The good news is that if we agree with God about that which caused a
break in fellowship, purity, and fellowship are restored. We are on the same
page as God once again. It is not rocket science that we need to avoid the beef
coming from unholiness to God by disagreeing with His Word in a certain matter. To be clear, this is not an academic disagreement but behavior unbecoming holiness.
Let
me add one other thought here; just because some disaster hits home, it doesn’t necessarily
mean God has a beef with us (cf. Job). The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. It is
best for us to listen to Him the very moment He makes us aware of any
disagreement brewing within the heart. Whenever we violate His Word, we can be
certain that Yahweh will have a beef with us. Willful ignorance promotes the idea
of being clueless when we violate His Word. Nowhere do we read of God approving
of any sin in the life of a believer for any reason.
Spiritual
reality #2, there is no way to please God apart from faith.
But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6).
Do
you recall Jesus’ words to the Pharisees? The Father has not left me alone, for I always
do [Gk, present
active indicative] those things that please [are agreeable to] Him (Jn 8:29).
Jesus
was always doing those things that were agreeable to the Father. It was another
claim by Jesus that He was God and without sin. When we intentionally sin or get
out of agreement with God, do we think God is satisfied with our behavior
whether by our thinking, feeling, or choices?
The
writer of Hebrews cautions believers not to allow the circumstances of life to
rob them of their faith; persecutions were ongoing. We can read Hebrews 11 and
see those who maintained a faith-based life in spite of some serious pushback
from the world. I cringe whenever I read of some of those things that happened
to those who lived by faith in and for God.
God
will reward those who diligently and consistently seek after Him. Should there be any beef from God, the Holy Spirit
will let us know for those who hear the still small voice; he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying! Obeying the
Scriptures and the Holy Spirit avoids the Divine Beef coming from personal sin and leads to the
peaceable fruit of righteousness (cf. Deut 8:5; Heb. 12:5-11). Divine Beef is not God’s wrath, but the love of a Father for His children to do the right thing. <><
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