“What Is Your Greatest Concern?”
25) Then
came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are
standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
26) Then
went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they
feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
27) And
when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high
priest asked them,
28) Saying,
Did not we straitly command
you that ye should not teach in this name? and,
behold, ye have filled
29) Then
Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought
to obey God rather than men.
30) The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
31) Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a
Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to
32) And
we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God
hath given to them that obey him.
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W |
henever
we find ourselves concerned with anything, we are concerned unnecessarily. Many
times, we find our energies focused upon pleasing men whom we feel to be
important. Our concern can be so great and our focus so misdirected, that we can
find ourselves failing to please God.
Obviously,
since God and natural man are diametrically opposed, we will be unable to obey
God if we are concerned with man. Frequently, we discount and excuse the
requirement of obedience and, therefore, validate our disobedience. But even a
cursory overview of the scripture quickly proves to us that obedience is
fundamental to salvation. The very beginning and ending of the Book is
proof-positive that disobedience is the beginning and ending of all man’s
problems.
By
now, we should understand that the devil’s route to conquering our salvation is
through getting us to be defensive. Once we succumb to defensiveness, we will
find ourselves living and exhibiting bad attitudes. Why? Because one is caught
up in defensiveness will usually do anything to protect himself.
We
are so enamored of the devil that we allow him to construct fantasies for
us—and we believe them. He gets us to launch a defense based upon, often,
nothing but air. The reason this is such a crucial issue is because, being
saved, we should not be concerned at all about anything!
There
never has been and can never be salvation with obedience! No matter how many
tricks Satan pulls (such as presenting enough of a lie to Eve to make her
defensive), one who intends to be saved must remain spiritually wise enough to
always be “one step ahead.” Of course, this is no problem when one is led of
the Lord.
By
even considering that the serpent had something of importance to tell her, Eve
was made vulnerable to losing sight of reality. Once “we” become important
(either our protection of ourselves or gaining something for ourselves) we can
see nothing but our own self-interest.
Absolutely
no opposition that we encounter can be allowed to hinder us from proclaiming the
truth of the Word of God. We must always remember that God’s ministry has
always thrived under adversity. And out of it many have always aligned
themselves with God. You see, as onlookers see “turmoil” in God’s business and
the spotlight on His people, they begin to see the glory of God. As He is
allowed to show His omnipotence, ordinary man becomes excited to seek out and
accept an extraordinary God.
It
is true that in this walk of salvation, opposition is a fact of life. So, we
need to accept this and deal with it as such. This is the fact: wherever the
power of God is manifested, the devil will launch a problem to get all involved
to go on the defense. By “inserting” a problem in an otherwise glorious
situation, he attempts to minimize the working of the power of God; and all too
often, we contribute.
Once
our greatest concern becomes the Lord and His work, nothing but that which
is of spiritual benefit will be of interest to us. Once obedience becomes
our greatest concern it will be easy for us to step out in faith in God’s
Word. If we would do this just like Peter, we could walk on our “troubling
situations,” keeping our eyes on Jesus. However, when we look away, then like
Peter, we can also “sink.” None of these things are a factor in the life of
one whose greatest concern is Jesus and who is determined to be saved through
obedience.