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Quote:
“When it comes to moral judgments, we think we are scientists discovering the truth, but actually we are lawyers arguing for positions we arrived at by other means.” – Jonathan Haidt

Spirit Nugget:
We often rationalize having a “grey area” in our lives where we can play “double dutch” and skip in and out of the sins we choose to diminish. We justify our wrongs in so far as we possibly can because we are wired with an unconscious bias that is deeply rooted in our beliefs. Nonetheless, there are no grey areas in our walk with Christ where we can get the approval of God. We are required to walk in a st te of belief that God’s Word is true, and we cannot at any point try to diminish it for our own profit. Deuteronomy 12:32   says “See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.”

We are all driven by our beliefs and yet truly believing in God is the most challenging thing for many of us to do. Sometimes we say we believe in God yet we wrestle between trusting in what God says is the right way and what we believe the way should be. Belief is the first step in salvation and the only way in which we can truly cultivate and nurture a relationship with the Lord.

It is critical that we make great efforts to establish a relationship with God because we must ensure that the one in whom we say we believe is the one we can hear in our thoughts. God speaks to us in many ways, and he has given us His Word to align our beliefs in truth. Sometimes we find ourselves stuck in the mud of depression, an unhealthy situation, a toxic relationship, or even a false belief in ourselves. We may feel hopeless, powerless, unworthy, and even unloved in those trying times. To further compound this, we often look to cherry-pick information from the world that confirms those negative beliefs and identify ourselves and others based on our circumstances.

What we should do rather, is, dive deep into the Word and pick out all the beliefs that God says is true to counteract any false belief that may be holding us hostage. With God, we know that all things are possible and as a child of God we are to believe that this is true. We are not only required to believe what God says about us in theory but we are also required to practice all the steps laid out for us to see this belief come to light. We cannot say we believe in a God that is all-knowing and all-powerful and yet walk in the disbelief of laziness, ignorance, and defeat.

When God says not to diminish his Word, he is not only admonishing us about our biased viewpoints on sin. He is also reminding us that He is not a man that he should lie and if he says that “the one whose trust and confidence in Him will be blessed like a tree planted by the river never failing to bear fruit”, then it is true.

If for any reason your life is resembling a tree scorched by drought or you find yourself living in fear that when the heat comes, your green leaves will turn brown and fall, you need to reassess what you believe and in whom you believe. If you say you believe in God, get up and walk like you truly believe. There is no situation or drought that God cannot conquer if you would only believe.

Scripture:
John 6:28-29
“Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you plant your Word in our hearts and strengthen our belief in You. Give us the courage to walk in faith and not in accordance with the droughts that come and go in our lives. Plant us by the river of your Living Water so we may continually bear fruit. Amen.