Dear friends
Please note
I will be traveling for a week and am unlikely to have ongoing access to internet. Timely posting will resume Saturday August 25.
Here’s today’s Holy Nougat
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, Deuteronomy 10:12 NIV
Fear, Obey, Love, & Serve!!!! Sounds like a tall enough order to me. In fact, if we were to properly observe these, I suspect that we might not have too much time to be preoccupied with ‘ungodly’ pursuits.
Fearing God invites us to first recognize God’s wholly Holy otherness, there is none like God, and never will be. It is honoring the fact that although God is ‘with us’; God is sinless and untainted by sin. It is determining that God is to be accorded the glory due unto God, a glory which is shared by no other; and is often outworked in our honoring God.
Despite God’s Holy other-ness, separate, distinct and different; as Creator God seeks our best interests. Obedience recognizes our own vulnerability and secures us in the now along with hope for eternal glory. Obedience is not all sweetness and light – it sometimes requires letting go of the logical and simply trusting God and remembering that God’s love for each of us ensures that when we obey, it is not to our detriment.
God desires our love and pursues us with a passion! It’s the love of The Creator for the creation and of a true spouse for the affianced. When I look around in nature and consider All that God lovingly put in place before creating me … I can’t help but fall in love over and over and over again! And I haven’t even contemplated that sacrificial Love which makes me full free! I fall completely in love all over again; even through my fears. This is manifested through ongoing communication.
Now our love for God ought to be such that we are willing to live it in our daily interactions. We both submit our natural desires to God’s Purpose while seeking God’s heart through our conversations; as well as try to anticipate our Beloved’s desires and meet them naturally. For action speaks louder than words!
All this sounds so philosophical, and yet it is all so practical. For Fear-full, Obedient , Loving Service only makes sense in the outworking. In our living as ones who are Loved and Love in return. Today, let’s ask God what God desires from us, and seek as many opportunities to live our Love for God.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
