Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Love Your Savior - Lenten Bible Readings

We are always turning our back on our best friend.


Exodus 20:1-8  Then God gave the people all these instructions:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.  3 “You must not have any other god but me.

 4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected, even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

 7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

 8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

We cannot start to imagine what it would feel like to be on death row waiting for our sentence to be carried out. What would it feel like to have an exact date? How would I feel when the moment was just hours away?

That's where we all are without Jesus, we don't have anything to look forward to but with Jesus we have been given an undeserved pardon, we have been given far more that we could ever earn. It makes you wonder how we could be so unfaithful to the greatest friend that we could ever have. When we look at how much that has been done for us it makes us look like losers when it comes to being Jesus friend. If my friend received a pardon for his crimes then he should call me his best friend, we would never keep friends around that did so little for us and yet Jesus shows us love and compassion without getting much in return. 

God gave out some basic guidelines to help us to know how to treat him, he told his people: he is the only God, don't make any other gods, don't misuse his name and keep the Sabbath. It doesn't seem like it would be difficult to keep these basic rules but we all too easily make a u-turn and head off in a different direction.

As Easter approaches I need to remember that I have a friend that is true to me (Proverbs 18:24) and he will always treat me better than I could possibly treat him. I need to do everything that I can do to be pleasing to him.

Isaiah 45:21-23 For there is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none but me. Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to me.

Lord God you are an awesome friend and Savior! I want to treat you with the love and respect that you deserve, I pray that I will be a more loyal friend and give you the allegiance that you deserve.