Keep meaning to do this, but I don't seem to have the memory of a g-nat....
God blesses those people
who want to obey him more than to eat or drink.
They will be given what they want! Matthew 5:6
Doesn't this say that if a person wants to obey God, He blesses them and helps them to obey Him? And if we are to obey Him, doesn't that mean that there are commands to obey?
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:3-6
So what is His Word? The 10 Commandments? Matthew 5-8? Every word that came out of Jesus' mouth? Anything said in the Bible at all? I am not sure about that...what He meant. I think that when He said
And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
"This is the great and foremost commandment.
"The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
"On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." Matt. 22:37-40
I don't think He meant that now we just tell God we love Him and thank Him for His grace and "love" everyone and go forget the rest. I think He meant,
"Think about Me all the time and consider me in all you do...and follow what I say in My Word. And love people, and by that, I mean treat them in the way that I describe here in My Word."
Because we don't know what love is, really, or how to do it.
We all want the quick answer...the cliff notes to the Bible....we want to somehow "sense" what the right thing is, and how to treat people. If I can read (and I can) I think that it is my responsibility to learn all I can from what He has given already in His Word...and this is not a burden...it is the Words of the One Who loves us more than anyone else ever could.
Why is it so hard to take time to see what He has to say to us? Or hear it? Dramatized audio NIV? Played in the car on the way to work? But even that sometimes is hard to start...It has to be our flesh that makes us unwilling and I am guilty of this as much as anyone.
I am so thankful for His Word. That is the standard by which we are to live. I fall short so many times, but it is a comfort to me to have it there to guide my life when I am willing to follow.
And when I am trying to follow His Word, it is not because I am trying to buy my salvation or win my way to the front of the line by being the best...it is because I am so thankful for what He has done for me, both on the cross and everything before and since.
I am amazed at His attention toward me and His love for me. (and not just me, but anyone who is reading this). And there is no way I could ever even the score, but why not try?
Why not try to do everything He says?
Why not try to live better than what I am?
Why not say to myself, "You are not going to
participate in,
listen to,
watch,
think about,
act like,
talk like
that... because you are God's child and He deserves better from you?".
I want to do what He asks me to do in His Word...it is not a begrudged thing...in my heart I want to please Him.
Not out of fear, or a sense of working for my salvation, but out of gratitude.
Thank You, God, for the boundaries You put in place...and thank You for Your precious Word that tells us how to live.
