Tag Archives: obedience

January 21
Leave a comment
Uncategorized

“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the Lord always.”  (Proverbs 23:17, NASB)

The sinner does not regard the law of the Lord as applicable to him; nor does he consider as valid the instructions of his Creator.  The fact is this: We all have been active sinners; dismissive of God’s law and disdainful of His rightful authority.

Are we tempted to envy those we see cruising on sin’s easy boulevard while we endure the inconveniences of the narrow moral road?  Yes!  We feel the tug because of our humanity. However, we were created for grander purposes.  Do not give-up; and do not give-in to envy.

To “live in the fear of the Lord” is to be continuously mindful of the things that matter to the Lord — and to allow your heart to follow the Spirit’s leading.  – Luther

Tagged , ,
January 12
Leave a comment
Uncategorized

“If someone claims, ‘I know God,’ but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.”  (1 John 2:4, NLT)

Here is the essence of knowing God: Obedience to His commandments.

It is not doing great things in God’s name that shows we know Him.  It is not acquiring volumes of knowledge about God that shows we know Him.  It is not the depth of our sacrifice that shows we know God.  To know God is to obey His commandments.

God’s commandments are to love God with all our being; and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  (Please see Mark 12:30-31.)

To be sure, to do great things in God’s name; learning all we can about Him; and sacrificing ourselves for His name’s sake are honorable ambitions.  However, unless these and other works begin at God’s initiative, our labor and our accomplishments are in vain.

Let complete obedience to our Creator and our God be our daily goal.  It is only through obedience that we become like Him.  – Luther

Tagged , ,
December 11
Leave a comment
Uncategorized

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”  (1 Peter 2:23, NIV)

To be Christian is to be like Christ.

Peter provides two clear, practical, snapshots of what it means to be like Christ: Ignoring insults from the “haters”;  and making no threat against the agents of suffering and pain.

According to the scriptures, in his early years as a disciple of Jesus, Peter quickly quickly responded to every insult and engaged every opponent.  Through faithful discipleship, Peter was not the person “now” that he was in those early years.

To grow in maturity as a Christian means to become more and more like Jesus.  A measure of our maturity is the degree to which we are willing to entrust ourselves “to him who judges justly.”  – Luther

Tagged , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →