If You Want Life To Go Well, Get On The Good Side Of How Things WorkDeuteronomy 6:1-3 (NLT)
“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the LORD your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you." Deuteronomy 6:1-3 (NLT)
Pastor’s Blog
Do you know the hymn “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey”?
This first line in the hymn is very simple and very profound. In fact it captures the entire theology of Deuteronomy. If you obey, the result , generally speaking of course, is a good, long life, with happy, healthy, God-fearing children and grandchildren. If you choose a life of distrusting and disobeying, the result will be the opposite, living under a “curse” (more on this in future weeks). It’s that simple.
Protestants typically talk of “relationship” and love and belief and faith. All of that is good, important and right. But of course when we try to put God into some kind of systematic box, along comes Jesus and messes it all up. In John 14, Jesus very simply says in at least three different ways that loving him means obeying him.
Obedience matters. Obedience has a bad rap. I think of a dog or a slave or a child being mistreated or being constricted by ridiculous rules. But that’s where trust comes in. We are to obey the Father who loves us, knows best and whose heart is to give us “all things for our pleasure.
What aspect of God’s law do you routinely not obey, either because you don’t think it’s important or because you trust your own desires to make you happy more than you trust God’s commands to make you happy?
(to post your thoughts, anonymously if you wish, simply click on “comments” below)
"What aspect of God’s law do you routinely not obey, either because you don’t think it’s important or because you trust your own desires to make you happy more than you trust God’s commands to make you happy?"
ReplyDeleteProfoundly put, and maybe something we should ask ourselves every single day.
Ed Preston
Let's see if I got this: God is infinitely wise and knows the future and in Him is absolutely nothing "bad" only "goodness" (1 Jn 1:5). So if He gives me "instructions" for "good living", why on earth would I do anything but try my dead level best to follow them?
ReplyDelete