Skip to main content

Resolve: Know what God Commands

"If ye love me, keep my commandments."John 14:15

David, the shepherd boy, loved his father, Jesse. When Jesse told David to bring food to his brothers in King Saul's army and see how they fared, he obeyed. He got up early and went.

Jesus loved the Father. He displayed this in his greatest act of obedience, to lay down his life on the cross, so that we can be spared from the judgment our sins deserve. He submitted to the Father's will.

 Do we love our heavenly Father? Do we keep His commands? Do we know what it is He commands us to do?

We know the Father's will for us by reading the Holy Bible. Have we read it cover to cover? Do we know what God requires of us? Do we know God's will regarding how we are to treat our family, how to manage our money, where to pursue education, how to date or find a spouse, how to think, how to give an answer for the hope that lies within us, how to spend our time, etc.?

If our answer is "no" and this is something we are not pursuing, than we are breaking the greatest, most important, most serious command in the whole Bible.

"...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment." Matthew 22:37-38

If we do not know what God commands, we are not loving Him; because those who love Him will keep His commands.

We read in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

It is so important to know the will of God and to obey Him. No one has the excuse of ignorance or forgetfulness. We all (in North America) have access to the Bible and therefore must take the time to study it. This is not a suggestion for the Christian, this is an imperative. If we don't know what God commands, then there is no love for God in our hearts. Which is a huge indicator that we probably are not Christians in the first place.

I am not saying that if you forget to read your Bible one day, or don't know what God commands about everything in your life, that you're not a Christian. I am saying that if there has never been any real desire to know the word of God, and you only read it occasionally, because it's a good thing to do, than there is good evidence that the Spirit of truth has not done a work in your heart.

Have you been slack in your study of God's word? Repent and start reading it.

"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. " Hebrews 12:6

Has there never been a desire for the Bible? Repent and plead for mercy. God is so gracious and will save those who humble themselves before Him.

This year I resolve to grow in my love for God, by reading and obeying His word. I pray this year, you will strive for the same!

Sincerely,
Brooke

Check out our previous blog post where we share some tips on studying the Bible by clicking here.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ezekiel's prediction and Christ's fulfillment

Ezekiel Chapter 4-5 There are four object lessons in this passage that display the type of judgement that was coming for Israel and Judah.  First (Ezekiel 4:1-3): Ezekiel was commanded to draw the map of Jerusalem on a clay brick and demonstrate how the city would be attacked and destroyed.  Second (Ezekiel 4:4-8): Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days, symbolic of the 390 years Israel disobeyed God, and 40 days on his right side, symbolic of the 40 years Judah lived in rebellion against God; and do this while starring at the model of the siege of Jerusalem and prophesying against it. Third (Ezekiel 4:9-17): He was to prepare bread to ration out while he lied on his side and cook it over manure. This symbolized how God would make them eat defiled bread in the land of the gentiles where he would scatter them and where they would starve.  Fourth (Ezekiel 5:1-4): Ezekiel was commanded to shave his hair and divide it into three equal parts. 1/3 was...

Betrothed to Christ

I was reading in Exodus and was reminded of the beautiful picture of Christ and His bride. In Exodus 21:7-11, you find a peculiar law about maidservants: 1) She does not bide by the same laws as the menservants, which can leave their master after six years. 2) If her master who has betrothed her to himself is not pleased  with her, he cannot sell her to the gentiles, but must let her be redeemed; because he has dealt unfaithfully and deceitfully with her. 3) If her master has betrothed her to his son, he must treat her like his daughter. 4) His son must provide for her food, clothes, and duty of marriage and cannot diminish them if he takes another wife. If he does, the maidservant can leave for free. Weird? Kind 'a, but it makes sense. Then God popped a thought into my head about Hosea. Hosea was a prophet who was told by God to marry a harlot to illustrate God's love for Israel. Now at one point Gomer, Hosea's wife, left him for another man and ended up getti...

Judges 17 - Partial Obedience Doesn't Exist

I was doing my morning reading through the book of Judges and was shocked at how twisted this man named Micah was. The chapter starts off with him stealing from his mother, then returning the money, then she makes him an idol out of the returned money, and he makes his son the priest of his idols. Later, a Levite comes by and he hires him to be the priest instead of his son and says: "Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." Judges 17:13 How can this guys definition of right and wrong be so thwarted? How can he think God is pleased with his actions? Sure he hired God's ordained ministers to be his priest (Lev7:35), but he was worshiping a idol! He wasn't even worshiping the one true God! So he wasn't obeying the Levite Priest law, because he broke a much more serious law: "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is...