The second law of thermodynamics: “Everything tends to run down,” should speak volumes to all who claim to be God’s faithful children. Doing “the God thing” on our own terms, the outward appearance of compliance to God’s way, is a non-starter! Mankind has been trying to do their version of “the God thing” by their definition since Adam and Eve.

Our world of the 2020s is culturally similar to the world of the 1920s. A century ago World War One had spawned or advanced numerous technologies which accelerated the pace of culture noticeably. Those many war-born advancements created an aura of technological utopia where man was master of all.

Also born of that era was the practice of teaching the theory of evolution as man’s origin in the classroom. Man was doing “the God thing”, with himself as god.

But man was still the master of nothing

When the economic tentacles of the Great Depression reached out and spread its poison the seeds of World War Two sprouted and blossomed—in a depressingly horrible and predictable way. Millions of lives were lost in the fanaticism, fighting and persecution. Menacing dictators across the globe were doing “the God thing” with themselves as the deity.

Again, the Scriptural assessment proved true: “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

In short, man’s steps were not meant to be from war to war to war…!

Living God’s way today

Doing “the God thing” obviously wasn’t working. Was the problem with God—in no way! From the Garden of Eden onward, it was mankind who refused to fully obey and follow God.

Aside from Jesus Christ of Nazareth, no human ever perfectly followed God’s way. However, logged in Scripture are the examples of a fair number of the truly faithful who lived their lives in the genuine pursuit of their Savior. Their lives are memorialized in the eleventh chapter – which is the faith chapter of the book of Hebrews. These faithful ones God bolstered and supported as they sought to do His work and to live by His law and way of life.

If we aspire to do “the God thing”, that is to say, live a godly life in genuine conviction of God’s true way as delineated in His Word, the Bible, we must be sure that we do so in humility, sincerity, and in truth before our Creator. Any other way, no matter how appealing, is simply not God’s way!