Where is God? Do you see or sense him? Do you realize that you were knit together in your mother’s womb and given your first breath by your loving Father and Creator, God?
It took decades for my heart, soul, and spirit to partially grasp and be conscious that God, creator of all things, created me, and he sent Jesus to die for me! It’s hard to keep God and Jesus in the front of our minds because we can’t see them. However, when we foster a personal relationship with them, we can feel them in our hearts and spirits and see them in all creation!
The Cost of God’s Love For Us
It’s easy to think of God and Jesus as separate, even though Jesus was fully man and fully God. In reality, God walked among us through Christ. The only complete separation between God and Jesus occurred when Christ took on all of the sins of humanity for all time.
Think of this, all the prior sins, present, and those to come were loaded into the life of Jesus. How can we dismiss, discount, or forget his loving sacrifice every day we wake up? Do we not owe them our attention when we open our eyes and throughout our day? Peter, Christ’s disciple, gives us insight in this passage from the Message Bible.
Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
Now that you've cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God's living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! (1 Peter 1:18-23, MSG)
When you are a child of God and his disciple of Christ, you must commit to keeping aware of their essence and love in the center of everything. Without their love and sacrifice, we would still be under the curse of sin and death.
God’s plan from the beginning is revealed throughout the Bible. God would send our Messiah to show us how to live for him. God promised that one day Jesus would return and take all of his disciples home to live with them for eternity. However, how many believers personally know the hearts of God and Jesus and remain aware of them throughout their day?
Walking Unaware or Living on the Fence
For thirty-five years of my Christian life, no one ever showed me how to study the Bible. I would occasionally read a verse, passage, or devotional and attend Bible study and church. But they never realized I was walking unaware of God’s truth.
Without knowing God’s truth for myself, I picked from what I heard that felt good or made sense. I blindly agreed with other Christians who misquoted or misunderstood God’s Word. I looked for feel-good messages instead of God’s full truth. I was living on the fence and fell into the trap revealed in God’s Word.
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3, NIV)
If you don’t know God’s truth, how will you know when people or the devil use misquoted scriptures or lie to you? Jesus came to give us pure love and truth to set us free. He died for us to save us from death, the power of sin, and hell. He also tells us:
Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:4-6, ESV)
The Reality of Our Consciousness Affects Our Eternity
Christ’s words confirm that God has given us commands, guidelines, corrections, warnings, and consequences in our faith journey. We can’t live our lives like the devil and expect God to forget his loving sacrifice of Jesus and welcome us into a perfect heaven. God is a just God, which means only the righteous (those right and walking with God and Jesus) will live with them in heaven. Therefore, we must be aware, obey, and live our lives honoring God’s truths that are easy, hard, and confusing in love, not out of duty or reward.
Find a church that preaches the full gospel and is not motivated by teaching only the “warm and fuzzy” things to increase their numbers. Disciples of Christ must know God’s truth and work with Jesus daily to live in it. Do not be caught unaware or try to live for Jesus and your sinful flesh simultaneously because it is impossible. You can only serve one master, and your consequences are eternal!
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ in every area of your life is one of the hardest things you will ever do. However, the benefits of living with him in heaven for eternity far outweigh anything we will face on this earth. Discipleship is not an optional or occasional event; it is a lifelong daily focus and practice. Choose to be determined to breathe the essence of God and Jesus into your mind, heart, and spirit in every breath you take. See how they will transform your awareness of them and your life!
