Do we ever consciously think about the motives behind our thoughts and actions? Are we thinking and doing things because of duty, guilt, shame, or out of love? Things like how we treat our families, talk to people who are different, the effort we put into our jobs, or how we respond to people we deem beneath us, who God calls "the least of these?"
When we do things out of duty, guilt, or shame, we are not following Jesus. Jesus asks us to follow Him out of our love for Him: 1 John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us." and John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." This calls us to consciously live out that love.
When we are doing things without thinking about our motives, we don't know why we are doing them. God asks us to do everything out of the abundance of the love He has given to us; 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." and 1 John 2:5-6, "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." and 1 John 2:15-17, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." What we do reflects our beliefs. If we believe we are created to do good works, we do them out of the love God has shown us. It feels good because we return His love by living the lives He created us to live. We are not earning salvation, which is a free gift from God. We are demonstrating that we are part of His glory. The glory of the engineer who designs an airplane is seen when the airplane is flying the way he designed it to fly.
God did not create us to live selfish lives. Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." and Revelation 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." None of these things is ever done out of love. They are all done out of self-love, and they will lead to the second death, Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is good news, since we have all sinned and all of those sins will be forgiven if we accept Jesus as our savior.
We are all tempted in this life. But God has provided a way for us to resist these temptations, 1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Temptations are designed to draw us away from God and are tools of the devil, 1 John 3:8, "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." and James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
When we consciously surrender those parts of our lives that do not demonstrate the love of God, things get better; 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" and Hebrews 12:1, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"
Jesus brought us His peace, John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." and one day, Revelation 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." we will all enjoy it for eternity.
God has placed us in unique places throughout this world. This blog is about sharing His Word; please share it with those you believe would be blessed by hearing it. Bless you! If you want to receive the weekly blog, email us at bill@reasoningwithgod.com. If you want to read past blogs, go to https://www.reasoningwithgod.com/blog.
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