For a Sincere Brotherly Love

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for

“’All flesh is like grass

    and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

    and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord remains forever.’

“And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV)

Throughout the New Testament, the gospel message that was taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles is a gospel of God’s grace and mercy to humankind, but which also has requirements of those who believe in Jesus in truth and in righteousness. For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return (see Titus 2:11-14; Romans 6:1-23).

And Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we now walk in obedience to our Lord in holy living, in the power of God, then we have the hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God (Luke 9:23-26).

So, obedience to the Lord and to his commandments and to the truth of his word, for us who believe in him, is essential to the purification of our souls and for our salvation from sin, and for our eternal life with God. For faith that is from God and is persuaded of God and is gifted to us of God is not of our own doing. So we don’t get to determine what that faith looks like. God does. And he says that faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief.

[1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Romans 6:1-23]

So, if we are going to truly love one another with a sincere brotherly (family-like) love, then we have to be those who are following our Lord in walks of obedience to him and in holy living, and no longer in addictive sin. For love comes from God, and if we love others as he loves us, then we are going to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to God and to his commandments.

So we are going to do for one another what is for our good, as God defines “good.” And we will not deliberately nor habitually commit sin after sin against our fellow humans. So we will not lie to them, even if it is to try to make them feel better. For lies are never kind, no matter what name you give to them. And we will not steal from them, especially we will not steal from them the truth of the gospel so that they will like and not hate us.

So we will do for them and speak to them according to the will of God and for their ultimate good and for the salvation of their souls from hell, even if it gets us hated and rejected in return. For God did not put us on this earth so that we would be like the world so that the world will like us and not hate us. He put us here so we would honor him with our lives and so we would do as he commands and so we will share with others the truth of the gospel.

For all of us are going to die one day. It is inevitable. And on a very practical side, it is good if we prepare in advance for that eventuality by creating wills and determining who will make the decisions for us after we die with regard to what we leave behind. But most importantly we must prepare for the eventuality of death by making certain that we are those whose lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, who are doing his will, and who are not walking in sin, in practice. For those who walk in sin will not inherit eternal life.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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