Gold Nugget
Verse 16: “He who keeps
the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is
careless
of his ways will die.”
Commentary
The grace of God is as amazing as the song so beautifully describes.
I am saved by His grace and am lost without it. However, because of His amazing
grace, I can’t in good conscience neglect His laws. His mercy is not in place
to give us a free pass to live to our own discretion. His grace is sufficient
for us as we grow in it, but mind you, we should absolutely grow. We should grow in the
understanding of who He wants us to be. God will
create in us standards and expectations that should become laws to
us. Yes, that’s right. I’m not talking about the “thou shalt nots” written in
stone that we have read about in scripture. Those speak for themselves and we
see their value. I’m talking about the ones that He is writing in our hearts as
we grow in Him. Has He written laws in your heart or are you like today’s “gold
nugget” that says, “He who keeps the commandment
keeps his soul, but he who is careless
of his ways will die.”
As we grow in our relationship with God, He writes His expectations on our heart. He doesn’t need to write them on stone like He did before. He wants
to write them in the tenderness of your heart that belongs to Him. Consider this passage from The New Testament
in Hebrews. “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the
LORD. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their
hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Prayer
Lord,
thank you for reminding me that I am not some lawless Christian that roams
around doing whatever “feels” right. I am glad to conform to the expectations
that you have revealed to my heart through your Word and your personal plan for
my life. Amen
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Good Word Steve. I think we often think Grace and Mercy are the same thing and clearly they are not. We need and receive Mercy when we miss it and repent. We need and have, if we learn to cooperate with it His Grace to help us keep from missing it. His Grace empowers and strengthens us to walk in His ways, or you could even say His laws. It's important as well not to get legalistic in following Him, but rather as you mentioned grow in grace and our relationship with Him. His law, yes, written in our hearts. It's The Word and The spirit. The letter killeth, but The Spirit giveth Life! Without Him we really are nothing. Nothing but an empty shell. So often we have a tendency to present The gospel in a legalistic way, and if we aren't careful, we can bring the very ones He wants to set free under condemnation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Good stuff...
One more thing...lol! Of course you know how hard that is for a preacher. I think if we as ministers and as believers would begin to develop and teach more on righteousness consciousness than sin consciousness we would have alot less sin in the church:) I like to call it living from the inside out!!! I am getting ready to do a mtg in my hometown and will be teaching on this subject. In my opinion it one of the most important thing for a believer to understand. It's really the foundation of our faith. Who we are In Him as New Creations. If we understand this, we also understand that Jesus took care of the sin problem and it do longer has the mastery over it, it is an enemy! Well, I could go on and on but...
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you brother!
Lloydetta
Thanks for the comments. Well said as usual. I recently reset my phone and forgot to add my proverbfortoday email. I was wondering why I wasn't getting any e-mail? Enjoy the the meeting and may the Lord bless you and anoint you with His power and wisdom!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Steve
You are welcome Steve. Thanks for the encouragement :) looking forward to it. fyi, FB has changed some things on their pages. You can now receive notifications. They have made it easier to go back and forth from personal page to "page" and when you do the notifications do pop up. I hope you have a blessed week!
ReplyDeleteLloydetta