Skip to main content

Love Brings Obedience!!!

Obedience to the commands of God comes from our heart. When we begin struggling to obey God, this is a clear indication that our heart has shifted away from Him. Some of us claim: " I love God, but I'm having difficulty obeying Him in certain areas of my life." I would like to say that this is a spiritual impossibility. If I were to ask you, "Do you love God?" You might easily respond, "Yes, I love Him." But, what if I were to ask you, "Are you obeying God?" Would you just as easily and quickly answer, "Yes?" Do you know that in both questions, I have asked you the same question? You see, genuine love for God leads to wholehearted obedience. If we told our spouse that we loved them at certain times but that we struggled to love them at others, our relationship would most likely be in jeopardy. But many of us do this same thing to our Lord. We assume that God is satisfied with occasional love or partial obedience. He is not.

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." John 14:21.

Obedience without love is legalism. Obedience for its own sake can be nothing more than perfectionism, which leads to pride. Many conscientious Christians seek to cultivate discipline in their lives to be more obedient to Christ. As helpful as spiritual disciplines can be, they can never replace our love for God. Love is the discipline. God looks beyond our godly habits, beyond our moral lifestyle, and beyond our church involvement and focuses His penetrating gaze upon our heart.

Has our worship of Him become empty and routine? Have we lost the motivation to read God's Word? Are we experiencing spiritual lethargy? Is our prayer life reduced to a ritual? Friends, these are symptoms of a heart that has shifted away from God. We need to return to our first love. Love is the greatest motivation for a relationship with God and for serving Him.

May God Richly Bless You Today!! H Trent!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thinking About Calling Down Fire!?!

James and John were refered to as "the Sons of Thunder" in the Bible. When they discovered a Samaritan village that would not receive Jesus, they were fully prepared to call down fire to consume the entire community. "And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" Luke 9:54. Maybe they felt that through such a show of power, the gospel message might be enhanced. The two brothers were willing to sacrifice the lives of the village in order to further the cause of the gospel. However, Jesus rebuked them! Later, the apostles heard that Samaria had responded to the gospel. Guess who was commissioned to go and help them receive the Holy Spirit? None other but Peter and John! It was God's purpose that the people not be destroyed but saved! God chose not to rain down fire on the village, but to shower it with His Holy Spirit! I wonder what w...
6 comments
Read more

It Is Our Life!!!

One of the things that I find puzzling and troubling today is that so many of us Christians try to live the Christian life in this world today, without reading our Bibles! Many of us will occasionally give it a sporadic look, seeking a pithy thought to help us get through our day. This is sad. The Word of God is not merely a source of helpful suggestions, preventative warnings, or even inspirational thoughts . The Word of God is life itself! But, oh how foolish that many of us are, having the words of life right at our fingertips, and still not bothering to make time to sit down and go through it's pages. "For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess." Deuteronomy 32:47. God gathered the nation of Israel at the edge of the Promised Land to review their pilgrimage with Him. They had just spent 40 years wandering the desert, on a journey that should have...
2 comments
Read more

Sermon For Sunday!!!

Once again it is Sunday! I am posting a sermon I preached, hoping that in anyway, it would speak to those of you who are following these posts. May God be with you as you continue on your walk with Him. And, as always, may God richly bless you today!! H Trent! “The Test for False Prophets.” Scripture: 2 Peter 2. Introduction: You know, there are a lot of things that we see and hear these days on our radios and through our televisions, even from those around us. From the programs we watch and listen to, like reality shows, the news, even movies. It can sometimes be difficult for us to determine if what we are filling ourselves up with contains any truth or not. Sadly this is also the same theme for those of us in the church. I mean, how do we know what is being taught to us is the truth, and how do we know that the one's doing the teaching are themselves, true? Pretty big question isn’t it? We need ministers that live according to the Word that they are entrusted to teaching. We ...
1 comment
Read more