Love and Obey
To love God cannot be divorced from obeying Him.
Christ is more concerned that you act on His word than you hear more of it.
We live in an information saturated environment. Digital marketing analysts estimate that North Americans see an average of between 4 000 – 10 000 ads a day. We can access thousands of years worth of books at the tap of a screen. The 24/7 news cycle blares through our TVs, computers, and even pushes alerts on our watches. Advocates, activists, and advertisers use this bombardment to trumpet their causes and content. Even by taking this course, you are drinking in a stream of information!
Sometimes, we treat our faith like a race to know more about God. Christian books, podcasts, sermons, seminars, Instagram posts, Bible reading plans, articles — the modern Christian is soaked in information, religious and otherwise. That can be a great thing, but we run into major problems when we divorce learning or knowing from acting and obeying. In fact, according to Jesus, it is not enough just to know the word of God, we must do the word of God if we are truly to love Him.
Have you fallen victim to the Herod Syndrome?
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Can you relate to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees?
The Pharisees were legalistic because they created additional rules on top of the rules they were given, as a part of how they tried to love God or possibly even earn his love. Yet, they missed the point of all that God had actually asked them to do —Love God and Love neighbor. Perhaps you have been careful to avoid outward religious acts in an attempt to earn God’s love and rest in grace. But perhaps, like Sean, you have ended up becoming religious about not being religious. The problem is, loving God cannot be divorced from obeying God. Outward acts are not automatically contrary to grace, in fact, they may be a part of how you live in and receive grace.
What outward acts is God calling you into as a part of walking in grace?
Test Yourself
Answer
Talk it Through
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1.2 Love and Obey
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There have been times when I try to help others without abiding in Christ first.
I then feel like a slave to the ones I am trying to serve.
Instead of serving People because I love them, I feel forced to do everything they want me to do for them.
If I had spent some time with Jesus first, I would not have fallen into this legalistic trap.
Jesus wants me to serve others out of my love for him, not because I feel I have to.
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The area i have found that I relate with legalism of the Pharisees more than I would admit, is that Legalism about what is appropriate or not, actually keeps one from engaging with those that needs Christ the most.
It’s really a bad thing when our notions of holiness keeps us away from the gospel.
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What areas of your life have you found that you relate with the legalism of the Pharisees more than you would like to admit?
The areas of my life that I’ve found that I relate the legalism of the Pharisees is every Sunday going to church, give offerings and basically doing the Sunday Routine without the real relationship with Jesus.
Christian on Sunday and me sitting on my throne the rest of the day. Not seeking/ putting God first in my life.
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