Living Like I Know God

by Rik Danielsen, D. Min.

How many times have you had a conversation with a person who doesn’t go to church and has no intention of going to church when you hear them say, “The church is full of hypocrites”? Most people, including people who are non-Christians, have heard someone say that. What does that sentence mean?

It means they believe the church is filled with people who don’t live like they think they should live. There are a couple of problems with saying that:

1. No one elected us to judge the hearts of others. We would be far better off looking at ourselves in the mirror of the Bible and asking God to show us how we are doing.

2. My standard may not be the same as God’s. I might be judging someone based on what I think they should live like and not what God thinks.

Recently I was reading the book of Jeremiah. In the midst of this wonderful book, I found these really powerful words, which the prophet was called to speak to the king of Judah:

This is what the Lord says: “Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. And do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place…He pled the cause of the afflicted and the poor, Then it was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?” Declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 22:3, 16 NASB)

Did you notice the question at the end of verse 16? “Is that not what it meansto know Me?” Notice he isn’t saying this is how you come to know him. The question He asks seems to be, “Isn’t this what it how one lives who knows me?”

We come to know the Lord through repentance from our sin and by putting our full and complete trust in Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. Then we are called on to live for him.

God tells us (in these verses) there are some things we should be doing if we know him.

We should practice justice and righteousness.

These verses tell us how to apply that to our daily lives:

• Help the oppressed. “save one who has been robbed from the power of hisoppressor.” We have to ask ourselves who are the oppressed and those being taken advantage of in our community? How can we reach out in love to help them?

• Treat the vulnerable with kindness and love. “do not mistreat ordo violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow.” Again, we must ask ourselves, who are the vulnerable and hurting in our community? How can we minister to them in a way that shows the love of God?

• Protect those who cannot protect themselves. “…do not shed innocent blood…” There are many who cannot protect themselves. Who can you identify in your community? How about women and children who have been victims of abuse? What about the elderly who depend on others for daily assistance? What about single moms and their children who barely scrape by? What about the unborn? What kind of help would God have you give either directly or through the helping ministries right in your own community?

I was talking to a friend of mine, who would be honest and tell you he wasn’t a Christian, about a ministry I knew about to the homeless. This ministry provides dinner for the homeless and underemployed in their community every Friday night (a different church each week). When I told him about the four or five dozen people they fed for free each week, he responded by saying, “I love that.” People without Christ will take notice when the people of God are working to help others in Jesus’ name. It brings glory to the Father. Is that not what it means to know Him?

(This isn’t all the Bible has to say about living for Christ, but it is part of it. You can find more by reading the Bible for yourself.)

© Rik Danielsen 2022