By: Phil Hopkins
We have discussed lately how many people claim that they love God. They generally have a very misshapen view of God and how his love for us functions. They think that anything that they do in God’s name will be pleasing and acceptable to Him. They misunderstand what the word love means and how God’s love functions. They do not understand that God told us how to be pleasing in his sight. We can find how we show our love for God in: “John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” It is through our obedience of God, that we reverence Him and put Him first in our lives. As Christ was talking to his apostles he told them in John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”, the only way that we can be pleasing in his sight is to obey Him.
We all try to justify ourselves from time to time. We are experts at rationalizing our bad behaviors while pointing our fingers at others for not fulfilling God’s word. We all want to think that we are obeying God, when we put our will ahead of what God wants. Jesus put it simply when he said in John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” It is actually quite simple obey God and hold Him first in our lives and He will approve of us.
We show our love for God through our obedience of Him: John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” and Jn. 15:14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” It is simply amazing how we try to justify not obeying God. We don’t attend worship in the AM. and we say it’s OK, I was there this morning even though I didn’t listen to a word the preacher spoke (read Heb. 10:24-26) . I worship God in any way that I like because others do it that way (read John 4:24). It’s OK that I don’t obey God, I was baptized for the remission of my sins.
We forget what God said: I John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” We want to do (remember that any exception is sin: and live like those around us. We are not willing to commit ourselves completely to obedience to God. Rom. 3:23 “for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;”, Rom. 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We disobey, we sin but we still try to justify it. We try to explain and defend ourselves. “It’s OK, because God knows that I love him” when our behaviors show the opposite. We don’t even attend all the services of the church, let alone pay attention to the lessons being presented.
Paul described to the Corinthian church how the devil (Satan) behaved in this way as he wrote: 1 Cor. 11:12 “But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. “. Notice that Satan will try to deceive the elect by disguising himself as “an angel of light”. He will try to deceive us by pretending to be God. Not to worry since Jesus taught us how to defeat Satan by using God’s word against him. Matthew 4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”. In fact by using the Bible we can thwart all of Satan’s jabs.
Christ even warned us that there are many who will fall prey to these false teachers. Notice what Christ had to say in Matt. 24:11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” and again in Matt. 24:23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘*There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” We are to serve God and Him only. All of this requires work on our part. We must study and learn the scriptures. We are to defend the faith. 2 Tim. 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” That word diligent means: to use speed, i.e. to make effort. We are to make effort. Not sitting at home watching TV, no missing worship. We need to memorize God’s word. Your salvation will depend on it.