Coming Face to Face With God

 


For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from uttering deceit. And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord's face is against those who do evil.  1 Peter 3: 10-12

What does it mean to come face to face with God?

Mouth (tongue and lips) - we must keep our tongue from evil and our lips from uttering deceit. We must turn away from evil and do good. What kinds of evil could one commit with their tongue? Think slander, blasphemy, boastfulness, gossip, lies. These are things that are so difficult to avoid we have made them common. We tell white lies and think of it as a kindness. People gossip as a matter of course in their friendship. But ultimately, these things are inherently evil and they do not honor God. Instead of these evil things, we need to use our tongues and our lips to bless people. We need to speak kindness and love. We need to build others up and point them to Jesus.

Eyes - I used to think of God's eyes watching me in a negative way, like he was just waiting for me to mess up so He could smite me. But really, He's watching me like a parent watching a small child. He's thrilled over the little progress I make. He rejoices with me when I rejoice and He weeps with me when I weep. His eyes are on me because His righteousness is on me. I am clothed with the righteousness of Christ. In myself, I could never be righteous, but because of Christ’s sacrifice for me, I am righteous in God's eyes. When His eyes are on me, He's not hunting for me to do wrong. He's rooting for me to do right.

Ears - God's ears are open to my prayers. Do you ever pray and feel like your prayers are bouncing off of a metal ceiling? The reality is, that God listens to the prayers of His children. God also listens to the prayers of those who would like to become His children! His ears are open to our prayers. That doesn't mean He's going to give us everything we ever wanted. That wouldn't be very good parenting! It means that He will listen when we ask Him for things and answer according to His perfect will and plan for us.

Face - God's face is against those who do evil. Lord willing, this does not apply to His children. God and evil are like oil and water, they just don't mix. God is against evil even if you had the best of intentions with it. And here's the kicker, something is either evil or it's not. You can't have something be just a little bad. How do we know if something is good or evil? Ask God, He'll tell you. You may not like the answer, but you'll get an answer.

Here's the thing: The position of our face and God's face matters. Are God's eyes and ears on you, or is His face against you? Sometimes God's children can feel like His face is against them because everything seems to be going wrong. I would put it to you that that's not the case. God loves you, and He is for you. Sometimes life is hard and we have to go through hard things to learn and grow in the ways that we need to learn and grow. But His ears are always open to our prayers. Tell Him about it, He'll listen to you.

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