God's children obey their father's commands for their good and his glory.
Exodus 20:20 “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in
this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from
sinning!”
Deuteronomy 8:5-6 Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child,
the LORD your God disciplines you for your own good.
6 “So obey the commands of the
LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.
1 Peter 1:15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
In the previous post God's people learned about his holiness which affects everything about him. It is the supreme quality that affects how that he does but it also affects us as well. And since God is holy he cannot have a personal relationship with people that are unholy. the people that want to have a peaceful relationship with him must be holy as well.
Our world doesn't like to hear about a God that makes demands, the gods that
are popular today allow you to make your own rules, you get to be the "truth"
police. That may work for you before you die but the real God and his version
are truth will ultimately take over.
God is holy and he tells us to strive to live up to a higher standard, the
"you be you" generation sounds kind and loving but you don't get the final
say, we have been told to imitate our father in our attitudes and our
lifestyle. Like it or not, we will submit to his rules and authority, it is your choice to do it now or later on after it is too late.
God's rules are for our benefit, he is just like any loving parent that sets boundaries, God wants the best for his children and he wants
them to obey some basic instructions to keep them from trouble, he saves us
from evil and doesn't want us to continue our lives in it.
God gave us 10 basic commands:
How to love God:
1. Worship no god but the Lord.
2. Make no images to worship.
3. Do not use God’s name for evil purposes.
4. Observe God’s day of rest.
How to love your neighbor:
5. Respect your father and mother.
6. Do not commit murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not accuse anyone falsely.
10. Do not desire another man’s wife or what he owns.
We should love God and others extravagantly
Looking at the theme of the Ten Commandments, it is clear that we were made
for love, both giving love and receiving love to God and to the people we interact with. The first four commands tell us to relate to God and the other six tells us how to live with our neighbors.
1 John 4:9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
God didn't just demand love as a way of life for his children, he also gave us the ultimate example of how extreme we are too love. I was his enemy and with just cause, I was rotten to the core, the most unholy and undeserving of his affection but that didn't stop him from loving me extravagantly.
If I love God then it should show in how I live, Jesus told us that one of the ways to prove that we have experienced God's love is that we will love our neighbors, that's how the world will know who God's children really are and that's how he will get the glory he deserves.
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