Loving One Another
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10 ESV)
When we read this passage of Scripture, in the English language anyway, it is easy, if we are not careful, to interpret this word “love” according to our human flesh, and according to our culture and the standards of the world (including the worldly church) rather than according to God, who is love, and rather than according to the teachings of the Scriptures. And that is what many people do, including many who are teachers of the Scriptures. But this is not a love which is of human flesh, but which is of God, and is holy.
In the Greek, this is agape love which means to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord, in practice. It is loving others the way in which God loves us and gave himself up for us on that cross for our salvation from sin. So when we love with this love we are not going to deliberately and habitually sin against other humans, but we are going to speak the truth of God’s word to them, in love, for their salvation and eternal life with God.
So many “Christians” today have this concept of love that it is to do and to say what other people will like and what will make them feel good about themselves, and it is to avoid speaking the truth that people do not want to hear and/or which might offend them. But Jesus told people the truth, all of it, which was hard for many of them to accept, and that is partially why he was hated and why he was persecuted and put to death. And if we are being like Jesus, we will speak the things that he spoke that people need to hear.
So, “doing wrong” to people is not just obvious and blatant sin against them. But it is also deliberately withholding from them the truth that Jesus taught, and that his NT apostles taught, which can save their souls from hell and can assure them deliverance from bondage to sin and eternity with God. Love that comes from God is willing to be hated, rejected, persecuted, and lied about in order to tell people the truth they need to hear, i.e. the gospel that Jesus and his NT apostles taught, and not the diluted one offered today.
Wake Up From Sleep
“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:11-14 ESV)
With regard to our salvation from sin, this is not a one-time event which takes place in our lives which assures us of heaven as our eternal destiny regardless of how we live. When Jesus died on that cross he put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in him, we would now be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, in walks of obedience to his commands.
And the gospel that Jesus taught was that if we are to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in walks of obedience to his commands, then we have the hope of deliverance from slavery to sin and empowerment of God to live holy lives, pleasing to God, provided that we continue in walks of obedience.
So, if you are believing a different gospel from that, and if you are convinced that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ now guarantees you heaven as your eternal destiny, but that how you live does not matter to God with regard to your eternity, then you are someone who needs to wake up from your slumber and to study the Scriptures (in context). And then you need to do what Jesus and his NT apostles taught we are to do as those who are genuine followers of Jesus Christ, and that means death to sin.
For the salvation message that Jesus and his NT apostles taught is not the one that is so popularized today here in America. For what they taught was progressive salvation (sanctification) whereby we must continue in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, and not in walks of sin and disobedience, if we want to have the assurance of salvation from sin and eternal life with God when he returns for his faithful bride, which is when our salvation will be completed, and not until then. So know the truth and obey the truth.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]
I Stand in Awe
By Mark Altrogge
You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words
Too wonderful for comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description
Majesty, enthroned above
And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You
Holy God, to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You
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