God Will Not Let You Stumble

feet-planted

I had a conversation with my buddy, Jason, the other day, and it really got me thinking a lot about what it means to be grounded. Jason received a transfer to a firm in New York a few years ago, and since then, he’s been steadily climbing the corporate ladder. He’s a really smart guy and all of us are proud of him, but when our conversation ended, I was a little concerned. He and I attended the same university, and we’re both ambitious; trying to make that serious coin, and have some leftover after these school loans. The thing about Jason is that he seemed ridden with anxiety. From the sounds of it, he’s not getting that much sleep, and works a lot of long hours. There’s mega pressure at his job, and it seems like he’s having to compromise his integrity in ways that are completely foreign to how he was brought up. We were both reared in Christian homes with parents that didn’t play, but when I got off the phone, I felt like Jason is losing touch with the core of who he is.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that we all have our stuff to deal with. We’ve all got things that we need to work on to be better Christians. We’re not everything we should be, but hopefully we’ve grown and we’re not what we used to be. The thing is, we have to remind ourselves constantly how easy it is to slip and lose our way, especially when we feel as though we’re under constant pressure, trying to keep our heads above water. God has promised us that He will never leave us. In Psalm 121:3(NLT), God’s Word tells us, “He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.” He will lead, guide, direct, and protect us. He will not fail us, and this is a foundation that we can count on no matter what.

God will continue to lead us in a forward and upward progression, but we must keep our part of the deal by remaining faithful to Him. Sometimes we can allow doubt, fear, and negative thoughts to clog up the artery of our faith. We must be willing to let God’s love lead our lives. The love of God will cast out fear and anxiety. 1John 4:18(NIV) tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” As men, we can become full of ourselves and think that we can do this thing called life all on our own, but we need to be humble. We need to appreciate and receive the Fatherly love that God freely extends to us, because we can’t do anything without Him. We can get so caught up in what we have going on that we think of God as being far away. The truth is that He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins so that He could be near us; so near in fact that His Spirit abides within.

God’s love is rich, powerful, unconditional, limitless, and transformational. It has no equal. It is not the physical, romantic, ooey-gooey feelings we have in our relationships. It’s the love that binds and holds our lives together. His love allows us to love others in the very best way. His love identifies and singles us out as His people. We are obligated to express on the outside the reality of His love on the inside. 1John 4:7-8 (NKJV) tells us, “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” The more we trust Him, the more He works within us. This is how we begin to build and grow our believing towards faith. It’s how fear is canceled out. It is wiped out when our trust is firmly planted in God. We’re not back and forth with “Will He or won’t He bless me?” Our lives should be anchored in believing His promises, so that fear never has a chance to take root in our hearts.

The bottom line is that if we are not walking in love, we are going to stumble. James 1:6-8 (NKJV) tells us, “6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” God has called us to be focused in our faith, and to keep our minds firmly anchored in Him. Staying in God’s Word reminds us who we are, whose we are, and why we are here on this earth. When our feet are not firmly planted in the goodness of God, the enemy can smell it; he catches a whiff of anxiety from us and pounces. Worry, doubt, and fear are his territory, and he will use any tactic to keep us in these negatives so that we can’t focus our minds and hearts on God. We have to wake up and recognize his tricks and tactics, so that we can steer ourselves away from them.

It is our choice to live a life of love. This is what God has called us to do, and children of love is what He has called us to be. There are times when we might feel as though life is moving at such a fast pace, and we are under tremendous pressure to catch up with it. Any time that we feel as though we’re losing ground, it’s not pace but grace that we should be focused on. We’re outpaced when we lose sight of God’s grace and start conforming ourselves to the world rather than to the image of Christ. Letting our relationship with God slip to second place will cause us to stumble, but if we kick doubt out of the picture, and get our minds and hearts back to Christ, he will keep our feet from falling so that we can stay humbled and blessed. ■

4TheChristianMan

Christian encouragement and inspiration for men

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