More Than Just Words
Some people go to church all their lives and never personally know Jesus. This fact saddens me greatly. It hurts my heart to see the damage people inflict on themselves and others by being hearers only of God's Word and not doers. They give God lip service without giving Him their hearts.
Our words alone, without corresponding action, are useless.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
Romans 2:13 ESV
God does not demand perfection or mindless obedience. He wants a genuine relationship that is deeply embedded in covenant with Him. To be in covenant simply means each party surrenders all he has and all he is to the other party. God asks us to give Him all that we are and all that we have to use as He sees fit. In return He gives us all that He is and all that He has.
There is no way we can enter the covenant relationship God created us to have with Him without obedience to His Word. In the New Testament, Jesus simplifies all the laws of God down to two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40).
The first and greatest command is to love God - love Him first and foremost with all of your possessions and all your being. This means that you choose to live each day according to His will not your own. In Galatians 2:20 Paul reminds us that we are crucified with Christ. The crucifixion we experience is of our flesh. We make the decision to stop demanding to have our own way all the time and we choose to do things God's way instead. We surrender our will to God's will because we know that He knows what is best for us and He will never ask us to do something that is harmful to us.
The second command is to love others just as we love ourselves. This means we take care of the people in our lives the way we try to take care of ourselves. Loving others can be difficult to those of us who struggle with receiving God's love. It is hard to give away something you do not truly possess.
Both of these commandments however, require us to surrender to God's will. No matter what we think about a situation, God always knows what is best. Disobedience to any part of God's will is sin. When we refuse to obey God and choose to do things our way instead, we put ourselves on a very treacherous path.
Disobedience puts us under the control of the devil. It keeps us under the influence of demonic spirits and makes us a pawn of the enemy. It doesn't matter how we try to justify our behavior or what excuses we make for our choices the bottom line is still that we didn't obey God.
Disobedience is deceptive because it blinds us to the truth of God's word. It is easy to hide our disobedience behind lies and good appearances. Other people cannot see what we keep in our hearts but God can. Our lives may look good on the outside, like we have it all together but let us not forget that God sees everything.
Examples of disobedience are:
gossiping
unforgiveness
bitterness
sexual relations outside of marriage
speeding
overeating
idolatry
refusal to do the right thing in any situation
selfishness
pride
greed
jealousy
complaining
The book of James tells us to lay aside all these things that oppose God (James 1:21-22). We deceive ourselves when we are only hearers and not doers of God's word. Our faith without supporting works is dead (James 2:17).
I ask you today, to let go of anything that does not conform to the Word of God. Refuse to only hear God's word. Choose instead to live His word, be doers of His word and watch His promises come alive in your life.
Your faith is visible through your obedience to God.
Heidirn
Our words alone, without corresponding action, are useless.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
Romans 2:13 ESV
God does not demand perfection or mindless obedience. He wants a genuine relationship that is deeply embedded in covenant with Him. To be in covenant simply means each party surrenders all he has and all he is to the other party. God asks us to give Him all that we are and all that we have to use as He sees fit. In return He gives us all that He is and all that He has.
There is no way we can enter the covenant relationship God created us to have with Him without obedience to His Word. In the New Testament, Jesus simplifies all the laws of God down to two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40).
The first and greatest command is to love God - love Him first and foremost with all of your possessions and all your being. This means that you choose to live each day according to His will not your own. In Galatians 2:20 Paul reminds us that we are crucified with Christ. The crucifixion we experience is of our flesh. We make the decision to stop demanding to have our own way all the time and we choose to do things God's way instead. We surrender our will to God's will because we know that He knows what is best for us and He will never ask us to do something that is harmful to us.
The second command is to love others just as we love ourselves. This means we take care of the people in our lives the way we try to take care of ourselves. Loving others can be difficult to those of us who struggle with receiving God's love. It is hard to give away something you do not truly possess.
Both of these commandments however, require us to surrender to God's will. No matter what we think about a situation, God always knows what is best. Disobedience to any part of God's will is sin. When we refuse to obey God and choose to do things our way instead, we put ourselves on a very treacherous path.
Disobedience puts us under the control of the devil. It keeps us under the influence of demonic spirits and makes us a pawn of the enemy. It doesn't matter how we try to justify our behavior or what excuses we make for our choices the bottom line is still that we didn't obey God.
Disobedience is deceptive because it blinds us to the truth of God's word. It is easy to hide our disobedience behind lies and good appearances. Other people cannot see what we keep in our hearts but God can. Our lives may look good on the outside, like we have it all together but let us not forget that God sees everything.
Examples of disobedience are:
gossiping
unforgiveness
bitterness
sexual relations outside of marriage
speeding
overeating
idolatry
refusal to do the right thing in any situation
selfishness
pride
greed
jealousy
complaining
The book of James tells us to lay aside all these things that oppose God (James 1:21-22). We deceive ourselves when we are only hearers and not doers of God's word. Our faith without supporting works is dead (James 2:17).
I ask you today, to let go of anything that does not conform to the Word of God. Refuse to only hear God's word. Choose instead to live His word, be doers of His word and watch His promises come alive in your life.
Your faith is visible through your obedience to God.
Heidirn
Comments
Post a Comment