Today I’m grateful that Jesus wants an intimate relationship with me. He doesn’t just want to hear from me on Sunday’s or Wednesday nights, He wants to know and be invited into every part of my life.
He is omnipotent (all knowing) so He knows all about my life but that isn’t enough for Him. He wants to hear it from me. He wants me to open my heart to all the areas of my life that I might like to call secret. How do I know this? John 14:23
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
“We will come to them and make our home with them”, that is a pretty intimate relationship. It’s a relationship of love.
We obey His teaching not because it will make us acceptable, we were made acceptable by what Christ did on the cross. We don’t obey his commands because it will make us worthy. Christ obeyed the commands of God and that didn’t make Him any more worthy than He had been at the beginning of time, nor did it make the perfect more acceptable. He obeys God’s commands out of love for the Father. A love so perfect its hard for us mere humans to understand. But all the same that love is offered to us and out of an outpouring of that love we should obey His commands. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5 If we can live up to this commandment and the other that Jesus gave us “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then we are obeying His commandments.
I must admit that I’m not always the best at loving the unlovely. For that I’m truly ashamed of myself. I don’t always follow through on actions as best as I could. Sometimes I wonder what they are going to do with the money they ask for and then other times I think there but for the grace of God go I and figure it’s none of my business what they are going to do with it. My duty is to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and do as He guides me to do. The rest is their business between them and God. But maybe you struggle with me on this and maybe we could go to the Father and ask for His help in this matter.
Lord God, make me a more loving person both to You and to my neighbor. I long to bring you pleasure. Help me in that desire. Amen.
Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart!