M-G: 12.30.24 // Eternal Relevance in the Sight of God

I know of some believers in Jesus Christ today who desire to live for Yahweh but are considered irrelevant or out of touch with the culture of today because their lifestyle conflicts with the narrative of the world. Then I know of some believers who struggle to juggle both lifestyles of opposing worldviews; the latter illustrates spiritual instability and hypocrisy. Without a doubt, the desire to be accepted acts like a powerful magnet that creates an artificial gravitational pull to choose between walking in the truth of God's Word or living in a pagan cultural narrative conflicting with the teaching of Scripture. Whenever Christians compromise biblical values to be accepted by the culture of today, it invariably proves to be spiritually unhealthy, and they wind up drawn to the proverbial “wrong side of history” in our service to the King of Kings which has BEMA (the judgment seat of Christ) implications.

Rather than being attracted to the light, they are being drawn deeper into the darkness to be culturally relevant, even if it is known or unknown, it makes no difference to them that their thinking and actions run contrary to the truth of Scripture. Remember when we were young, and how important it was to be accepted by our peers? The social pressure exuded was enormous, or at least we felt that way then! Looking back, we asked ourselves, “What was I thinking?” Later, we realize that what we thought was important back then wasn’t worth two cents to us now, right? The point is the pull toward the darkness can be as challenging as peer pressure.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we must remain focused on living in sync with sound biblical principles. Our talk should match our walk. Being eternally relevant at all times should be a far greater concern than obsessing over contemporary relevance or trying to fit in with cultural narratives that are transitory and run contrary to a biblical worldview: in vogue today and out tomorrow (contrast Mk 13:31). What feeds this vanity is the willful ignorance of the Scripture. Such a lack of knowledge prevents us from knowing and seeing that we are trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole! The truth is that we cannot apply or do what we don't know. It is analogous to the dog chasing its tail. Woof.   

There is no doubt that our spiritual rival (1 Pet 5:8) is persistent in trying to trash our effectiveness in service to Yahweh by making us irrelevant or shelved on a wall of obscurity in bringing glory to Yahweh. I wonder sometimes if we have figured that out, yet? Satan and his demons truly hate each one of us because we are connected to Yahweh! Too often we make this great spiritual warfare that we are engaged in as a wing and arm conflict (fighting demons in the flesh) when there is another way of combating the enemy of our souls (Psa 20:6-8; 33:20-21; 44:3-7; Zech 4:6; 2 Cor 10:4-5).    

The agenda behind the quality or state of being closely connected or appropriate is varied and can be spiritually on target or missing the mark completely. Imagine, if you will, that you and seven other righteous people are living in the spiritually dark and stormy days before the global flood erupts. And here, if you recall, is what Yahweh said about the antediluvian civilization about 120 years out from the precipice of a watery demise of global proportion before any gopher wood was ever hewn to make a massive barge that would serve as an escape pod, popularly referred to as Noah's Ark,

Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). 

Now, wrap your mental arms around that scenario. Where do you even begin to be relevant in a culture adverse to the ways of Yahweh? You don’t! Talk about being some kind of hyper-oddball and maximizing pressure on you because you want to do the right thing before God, not to mention saving the family from an entire civilization that doesn't give a rip about righteousness on the earth save for you and seven others! Now fast forward to the twenty-first century. We as believers are on the edge of the genesis of the tribulation period. At any given moment, our Ark, Jesus, will return for His bride, the Church. Imagine the billions of inhabitants that will be left behind to face the horrible conditions of the tribulation period on Earth after the Rapture! At the very microsecond of the Rapture, every inhabitant left behind is lost, having not the Holy Spirit.

I hear from predictive tellers of the future espousing their opinion of a revival of sorts to come before the Rapture. I wish it would be so, but there is no evidence in Scripture that such a wonderful thing will ever transpire before the great translation. Things will only digress toward more troubling times before getting better with the Second Advent. 

Have you not noticed that the spirit of Genesis 6:5 is eerily similar to our present time? Evil is abounding! Why? Because the people of Jesus’ day loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil (Jn 3:19). The people during Noah’s day loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil (cf. Gen 6:5). The people of our time [love] the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds [are] evil. 

What is the apparent connection here? The heart of man today is the same as the hearts of men during Jesus’ day, Noah’s day, and Adam's day, without exceptions. The cognition, emotion, and volition of all men, have been corrupted by sin. This, my dear reader, is what makes the Word of God so relevant today since the fall of Adam – man’s heart is the same throughout the ages! The Word of God is not only God's Self-revelation, but it addresses the sin-sick heart of man in great detail. Our sinful nature is as ugly today as it was with the fall of Adam in the Garden. It cannot be domesticated or improved upon, only eradicated through the divine process of glorification (cf. 1 Cor 15:52-53).

Did it ever occur to us that Gen 3:21 foreshadowed that the God of the Garden would be the God of Gethsemane to offer all of mankind a blood atonement because man's heart is/was deceitful and desperately wicked (cf. Jer 17:9, NKJV)? The only remedy is in what Jesus did at the cross of Calvary and to receive such an imparting gift of eternal life that is offered freely to all who will accept it only by faith, not by works (Eph 2:8-9)!

This begs the question. Do you and I seek relevance with Yahweh or our pagan culture? It is not a question about being weird, strange, odd, etc., but rather, it’s a question of relevance to the light over dark or dark over light? Our desire to be relevant will always be determined by what's driving us, the light or the darkness, God's will or contemporary culture. The ways of God and the ways of the world are two entirely different lanes, folks. Attempting to put a leg in each lane in service to the King of Kings is the road leading to futility and irrelevancy. 

I think Yahweh through Joshua is still asking a very relevant question of us all today to seriously consider because there are eternal consequences or repercussions. It's not rocket science,

But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh (Josh 24:15, emphasis mine).

Imagine for a moment living in heaven. Being relevant will not be an issue because everyone and everything has eternal relevance there. There will be no demons, no world-system, and no sin nature sporting about!

Now, my friends, the only eternal relevance in the sight of God is doing His will for His glory. Any pursuit outside the sphere of Yahweh's will for our lives is purely temporal, futile, and irrelevant (cf. Eccl 3:14). <><