Why do we resist the things of God?

If you’re anything like me, you can relate to this thought process. Wow, that was an amazing service this morning. The pastor said exactly what I needed to hear. This is it – today is the day that I change my priorities and make sure that my relationship with God is the first priority in my life. I’m going to wake up early tomorrow and spend some time in prayer, and I’m going to take a few minutes throughout the day to make sure His will is first and foremost on my mind. If I go to bed half an hour early, I can spend some quiet time doing my Bible reading and get a head start to wake up early the next day.

The next day dawns; I maybe get up ten or fifteen minutes early. I might stay awake, but more likely than that, I fall back asleep because somehow, nothing seems quite as important as a few more minutes of shut-eye. Those few minutes of sleep become an extra half hour, the sermon becomes a podcast I half listen to as I race to get ready, and the first mini drama of the day has me consumed with the frustrations the day brings. After dealing with that all day long, there’s only one thing I want to do: relax. So, I do - I relax right through that half hour earlier that was going to be Bible study time and another half hour after that, until I’m dragging myself to bed and sneaking in a quick chapter of Bible reading before I fall asleep.

What happened? I’d like to say this is what Paul was talking about when he said “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” in Romans 7:15, but I know that wasn’t quite Paul’s issue – he was certainly far more advanced than me and my “struggles!” What this verse does show us, though, is that the struggle of pursuing the things of God is common to all believers. The question is this: why do we resist the things of God? When I considered this, I came up with three reasons.

1) The things of God are not easy.

Let’s face it – if it was easy to follow Christ and His commands, a lot more people would be embracing His ways. One of the biggest lessons I have learned about the Lord is that what He asks of us is very simple, but obeying can be very difficult. At our core, we are sinful and lazy people. I know this is true of me because I want to take the easy way. I want to make the bad decision. When I want to make the good decision tomorrow, I somehow manage to make the bad decision today. This adds up to a lot of good intentions and not a lot of results!

I believe this is actually part of the design of humankind. We simply are not able to do what we need to do by ourselves. The things of God cannot be done in our own strength; only with dependence on and cooperation with the Lord can we live the life He has for us. There’s a pivotal change here: if we stop doing things for ourselves, we seek out the Lord out of a desire for relationship with Him. When that is our motivation, it’s no longer about how much discipline we do or do not have. Instead, we ask ourselves: what do I want? Do I want the things of this world or do I want the things of God? Until we choose the latter, we won’t begin to transform from our human motivations to Godly desires.

2) The things of God are scary.

When you read through the New Testament, it doesn’t take long to realize that the followers of Jesus are intimately familiar with struggles, trials, and persecution. This can be an unnerving realization – at first glance. I have always felt that one of the greatest paradoxes of the Christian faith is that the greater the difficulty the apostles and disciples faced, the more their fear was replaced with joy and confidence in Christ. From this, we can conclude only one thing: the less we rely on ourselves, and the more we rely on God, the less there is to fear. Jesus encouraged His disciples to embrace this mindset: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27, New International Version). The world has taught us to be distrustful, hesitant, skeptical; we doubt that others will follow through and even doubt our own ability to keep our word. This is a human mindset – God wants to replace it with one of absolute trust in Him, because He alone is completely trustworthy. When we begin to embrace this, we can stand in the face of adversity with confidence and serenity.

3) The things of God require discipline.

If there is one thing that I am not good at, it’s hanging onto a good habit. I can make it happen for a week, two, or maybe even a month – but somehow time makes me fade back out of the good practice I set up. Usually, this is because I am doing these things for my own benefit, and eventually, I decide that I don’t need whatever seemed so important before. Before I know it, I’m right back where I started.

Following the ways of the Lord means a denial of self. Jesus gave us this instruction in Luke 9:23-24: “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself an take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.’” When we became believers, we declared that Jesus Christ died for our sins and made Him the Lord of our lives, committing ourselves to service to Him, His plans, and His purposes. We forget this, getting wrapped up in what we want, what we need, or what we prefer. Jesus knew this was the nature of humankind; this is why He instructed us to take up our cross daily – put down ourselves and our desires so we can carry the cross in our daily walk.

How do we submit ourselves to the way of the Lord?

So, how do we turn around this very human way of looking at the things of God and live the life He has for us? I know there isn’t a magic, cure-all, 30 day discipline kind of answer – I’m living proof of that! That being said, I am more and more convinced that it starts with a decision: who do I want to serve? If I believe that Jesus is my savior and I know I have committed my life as a servant of Christ and a child of God, I know the answer to that question.

With the answer to that question in heart and mind, the next step is simply to walk it out. I know, that’s easier said than done. Growing up, my mom asked me a question that her mom asked to her: Who is on the throne in your life? With every decision we make, word we speak, and action we take, we must ask that question within ourselves. The answer is and should always be Jesus Christ. Then – and only then – can we live the life of abundance He has in store for us.