The Settled For Life

The Israeli tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh asked Moses to allow them to settle east of Jordan instead of crossing over into the promised land. Psalm 106:15 says: “And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” An answered request — an answered prayer — is not always a blessing. Sometimes God gives you an answer to your prayers because it’s what you desire so much, but your soul will become spiritually lean.

Why did Moses agree to their request? It is a picture of God, who will never force His will upon anybody. He is not going to coerce you to do anything. He is patient and loving and will always leave the door open to provide opportunities for you to inherit His best, but it is your choice.

Borderline Christianity is a picture of the believer who has come out of Egypt and the wilderness, but who refuses to enter the promised land. In his heart, he doesn’t want to go back to the slavery and bondage of Egypt, which is a type of sin. He doesn’t want the wilderness — it is a baron, dry waste land. But he is willing to settle for just a taste of victory without all the problems that go along with possessing a promised land that is inhabited by giants and fortified cities.

The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 relates the response of those who hear the Word of God. There are those who remain in Egypt (sin) verse 19; those who remain in the stony places of the wilderness (verse 20); and those who receive seed among the thorns and the environment chokes out the seed (verse 22). The latter is a picture of borderline Christianity:

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22)

Will you be a borderline Christian, or will you act upon the promises of God’s Word and reap the blessings of the promised land?

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some and hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:23)

The victorious Christian is one who is always moving forward, always pushing ahead, always hungering and thirsting for all that God has for them.

Those who settled on the eastern side of the Jordan wanted so much to look like those who were on the other side of the Jordan that they later built a religious structure to imitate the one which was constructed in Jerusalem and it caused division in Israel. That’s a picture of borderline Christians…they select the good instead of the best, they build their own religious structures, and they cause division among God’s people. They live the “settled for” life.