I do not love the law of the bible. I love Jesus, and because of this love, I long to follow His commandments. God's laws (or commandments) are not something we should check off of a list. Yes, we are to follow what He said we should/shouldn't do, but we are sinners. We cannot be perfect. But because of our love for Christ, we long to follow His law (or at least we should.) It's the difference between doing something simply because we were told to do it, and doing it because we love that person so much we would do anything for them.
I cannot force anyone to follow the law, God's or man's; I can, however, show them the power and love of my God in hopes that they will fall in love with Him too. If that can be accomplished, they will come to long to do what He has said.
But the thing is, if I have God's law in my heart and not His love and forgiveness...from Him or for others...then I do not have God in my heart. If all I care about is following God's law, or pointing it out to those around me when "they" fail to do it, that means nothing. God doesn't need me doing His job of judging who is righteous and who needs more discipline. He is perfectly capable of correcting people Himself... The minute humans try to take over God's job of judging or thinking we know enough to know a persons intent...we start to think more of our self than we should. Pretty soon people will start to ask if that person is really a Christian, or just a judge. Satan was one of Christ's angels. Yet He wanted to be like God, he wanted to be powerful and know everything. That very minute, God struck him down. He will now burn forever in hell one day with all who wish to follow him.
If we are truly Christians, why do we feel the need to be all-powerful, all-knowing, and always judging? Isn't that why we have God? So we have someone to count on who IS all-powerful, all-knowing, and a RIGHTEOUS judge? Shouldn't we rely on Him for taking care of those who fall short? Now, I'm not saying, of course, we should allow those we know to continue in sin. But more so don't try to take over God's job. More and more people these days hunger for more and more and more. They want all the knowledge they can find, and instead of getting it from God, they go out and get books by supposedly smart people... If we want knowledge and wisdom, why aren't we going to the One who knows *everything* anyway? Something to think about.
Love is the strongest power there is. God is love, and of course He is all-powerful. Should we, then, not love as well? "Love your neighbor as yourself; there is no other commandment greater than this."
"Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."
There's a verse in Psalms 4 that is pretty good.
"How long, O you songs of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Selah. But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him."
How long am I going to take the glory of the Lord and make shame of it? How many times will I do something from my flesh, and put God's name on it to make it sound/look more worthy? How many times do I long and search for worth in this world, only to get a false sense of hope, love, and acceptance?
God has already set apart the one's who are truly His. He has their name written down...no matter who says their works are done in His name.
"Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' " (Matthew 7:20-23)
If you read through your bible, you'll see Jesus calling the scribes and Pharisees on all of their wrong doings and hypocrisy. They tried to look so perfect on the outside, dressed right, talked right, did the right "rituals"...etc,etc,etc. But Jesus knew their heart, knew why they were doing all of those things. Jesus didn't see them as righteous, or even good role models! His words were "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (A good spot to go is Matthew 23:1-29) Jesus DOES care about the way we look, talk, dress or act. These things are our fruit...but more importantly to Him is out heart. I love the line on Facing the Giants when Grant (the coach) gets a new team philosophy. He tells the team "Your attitude is like the aroma of your heart. If your attitude stinks, your heart isn't right."
We may try so hard to make my actions and life look as though everything is done with a good intent or from a heart for God...but we had better be super careful and watchful of our heart. God knows our heart, even better than we do. He sees the bitterness, hate, lust, less than admirable intentions and the root behind our actions... He sees everything we do, He knows exactly every word we have ever said. We can gossip to other people all we want and make stories fit what *we* want them to be, but God knows the truth, and we will be judged by it one day.
So many times in life my heart hasn't been right. Situation after situation...you'd think I would learn. My prayer is that someday, I will. In this life, I have learned that I have to be content. I have to have God as my all in everything I do. My life is to be full of God's love for those around me no matter what. People can hurt me, I can hurt people...love and forgiveness can fix...pretty much...any problem. God is my perfect example; not a single human. I am striving to be more like Him...and even though I fail miserably every single day, I know God will pick me back up and forgive my mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment