Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Gods commandments were not given to restrain us, they were given to show us what the best life is. The law of the Old Testament, even though it revealed Gods character and perfect will, it also revealed man's imperfections and inability to fully obey God's law. So I know what you are thinking, " why is Jesus asking me to do something that I can't do?" Like you, I've looked in the mirror before and saw a man looking back at me who didn't love God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. The answer is found in the Holy Spirit. Do you think that Jesus loves the Father with all? Of course He does, and His life on earth proved it without a doubt. When Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to work in us the things that we were incapable of ourselves. So can you love God with everything? The Spirit of God within you can! The power of this truth is evident when we pray. When we pray, we pray to God the Father because we have access to Him through Jesus, God the Son, and we pray with the power and the help of God the Holy Spirit! We pray to God, through God, and by God. In the same way we love God with everything within us only because He gives us the ability.
Gods commandments were not given to restrain us, they were given to show us what the best life is. The law of the Old Testament, even though it revealed Gods character and perfect will, it also revealed man's imperfections and inability to fully obey God's law. So I know what you are thinking, " why is Jesus asking me to do something that I can't do?" Like you, I've looked in the mirror before and saw a man looking back at me who didn't love God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. The answer is found in the Holy Spirit. Do you think that Jesus loves the Father with all? Of course He does, and His life on earth proved it without a doubt. When Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to work in us the things that we were incapable of ourselves. So can you love God with everything? The Spirit of God within you can! The power of this truth is evident when we pray. When we pray, we pray to God the Father because we have access to Him through Jesus, God the Son, and we pray with the power and the help of God the Holy Spirit! We pray to God, through God, and by God. In the same way we love God with everything within us only because He gives us the ability.
I am so grateful for this truth! This sets me free in many ways. No longer do I have to work to please God on my own will. Will power is often used by the enemy to keep some away from God's love. In our ignorance we pass down this idea from generation to generation that all we need is the will power to overcome our sins like addiction or alcoholism or the deadbeat parent sin. Some people mat have overcome these sins with there will power but they didn't satisfy the judgement of God and are now in hell. We can not save ourselves with will power and expect to be good enough to make it to heaven. Somethings only God can do for us.
ReplyDelete