June 14, 2014 MISUNDERSTANDING GRACE
Thank God for His great grace and for His accepting us as we are when we respond to His call to salvation. Our righteousness comes from Him being in us. However, if we stop there, we are clearly missing the crux of the gospel and we fail to move on to maturity. God’s grace does not give us the freedom to live according to our own dictates and it does not give us the freedom to stay as we are. For some reason, the idea of keeping “commandments” may have negative connotations to some. Let it be clear that we don’t keep commandments to earn His love but we do so because we love Him. John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode with him.” When we digest this verse, we see just how awesome it is-it may even sound radical. The key part of this verse is the relation between “loving” and “keeping.” The hard cold fact is that if we are not keeping His word, we are not loving Him. The New Testament is absolutely full of instructions and commandments and we find over and over the admonition to keep His word. This relationship of “loving” and “keeping” is a theme found throughout scripture. The commandments of the Lord actually reveal our new nature and because of that, His commandments are not burdensome when we are living according to our new nature. On the positive side of the verse above, we find a tremendous promise and that is as we love Him and keep His word, the Father loves us AND Jesus and the Father abodes with us! I might add that when we find ourselves discouraged or simply coasting in life or feel disconnected from God, if we will simply choose to carry out one of the commands or instructions that God gives in His Word as an act of obedience, we will began to experience His life flowing in us once again. A good place to start is with some of the “one another” commands we find in the New Testament. For example, make a call or write a note to someone that will encourage them; express kindness, find a way to serve someone, give something that will bless the recipient. It’s important to choose not to live according to what I will call “unredeemed feeling”. Living according to feeling is contrary to scripture. We are to live being led by the Holy Spirit who always leads according to God’s plans. I might add that it does “feel” good to live according to how God designed. The above verse is a challenge for us to examine our love for Jesus and the Father. Real love leads to a joyful keeping of the commandments of our Father and by keeping His commandments we discover life to the fullest. When we read the scriptures, may we do so in light of examining our lives to see if we are indeed keeping His word. God’s heart and Jesus’s desire is to abode with us and that is what they do when we love and therefore obey!
Psalm 100:2: “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” Verse 5: “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
Blessings,
Buddy
Thank God for His great grace and for His accepting us as we are when we respond to His call to salvation. Our righteousness comes from Him being in us. However, if we stop there, we are clearly missing the crux of the gospel and we fail to move on to maturity. God’s grace does not give us the freedom to live according to our own dictates and it does not give us the freedom to stay as we are. For some reason, the idea of keeping “commandments” may have negative connotations to some. Let it be clear that we don’t keep commandments to earn His love but we do so because we love Him. John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode with him.” When we digest this verse, we see just how awesome it is-it may even sound radical. The key part of this verse is the relation between “loving” and “keeping.” The hard cold fact is that if we are not keeping His word, we are not loving Him. The New Testament is absolutely full of instructions and commandments and we find over and over the admonition to keep His word. This relationship of “loving” and “keeping” is a theme found throughout scripture. The commandments of the Lord actually reveal our new nature and because of that, His commandments are not burdensome when we are living according to our new nature. On the positive side of the verse above, we find a tremendous promise and that is as we love Him and keep His word, the Father loves us AND Jesus and the Father abodes with us! I might add that when we find ourselves discouraged or simply coasting in life or feel disconnected from God, if we will simply choose to carry out one of the commands or instructions that God gives in His Word as an act of obedience, we will began to experience His life flowing in us once again. A good place to start is with some of the “one another” commands we find in the New Testament. For example, make a call or write a note to someone that will encourage them; express kindness, find a way to serve someone, give something that will bless the recipient. It’s important to choose not to live according to what I will call “unredeemed feeling”. Living according to feeling is contrary to scripture. We are to live being led by the Holy Spirit who always leads according to God’s plans. I might add that it does “feel” good to live according to how God designed. The above verse is a challenge for us to examine our love for Jesus and the Father. Real love leads to a joyful keeping of the commandments of our Father and by keeping His commandments we discover life to the fullest. When we read the scriptures, may we do so in light of examining our lives to see if we are indeed keeping His word. God’s heart and Jesus’s desire is to abode with us and that is what they do when we love and therefore obey!
Psalm 100:2: “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” Verse 5: “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
Blessings,
Buddy
RSS Feed