Belief that Affects Your Whole Life If we really believe that God loves us so much that he gave His only Son, how will the way we live reflect our belief? If we truly believe that Jesus, the Son of God, came to Earth to show us that the purpose of our existence is to know Him and His Father, then the way we live must reflect our belief. We will expend great effort to know Him. We will learn to think how He thinks and to feel how He feels about things. We will want to do everything we can to learn more and more how we can follow His ways and obey Him. If we really and truly believe that God loves us and wants to know us, then won’t we desire His guidance and His friendship? When people love each other, they sacrifice to be with each other. Other things fade in importance. Sometimes the sacrifice is deliberate, but often the sacrifice is the natural result of having taken on the priorities, loves, and likes of the other person. Sometimes, if the love is great, a person may even forget to eat because of being lost in the enjoyment of being with the person they love! God demonstrates His love for us in the deliberate and painful sacrifice of His Son. And Jesus, being the exact representation of His Father, laid down His life for us! If we truly have seen how horrible our sin is and if we have experienced (in reality) His forgiveness, wont gratitude well up within us and be the driving force of our lives? And so, if we really believe in the love God has for us, then being with Him and learning to know Him more and more will not be a burden to us. It will be a joy! Shouldn’t gratitude be welling up inside of us right now and motivating us to discover more and more of this Wonderful God? He went to great lengths to make it possible. Won’t you seek Him in response? Would you please take some time right now to honestly reflect on how you respond to God’s love? Are you living a life of thanks to Him or have you merely been taught to be thankful? There is a big difference! Are you cultivating a real-time relationship with Him or are you trying to go with the flow of an organization or belief system? Again, there is an important difference. Would you please take the time to ponder, reflect, and pray about these things? For Him? :-) Some Scriptures to help you reflect: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2). “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2). “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him...” (1 John 3:3-6). “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...” (Philippians 3:7-8).
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 10:18:38 +0000
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