A God of Love
Deuteronomy 4:1,”Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
You may be thinking, “That’s an odd verse in the Bible to use to prove God’s love.” My human side agree’s with you. It would seem that when I’m talking about God’s love a more appropriate verse would be one that focuses on what God has done for us like John 3:16 or Romans 5:8; not what God requires of us.
But allow me to take a minute, and share why I believe this verse; and others that talk about how much God asks of us speak as loudly about God’s love than those that talk about His sacrifice on the cross.
God is a holy and just God, and giving us His commands to follow proves that. When we know the commands then we know what we must do to, and this is a central component to God’s love.
I am a college football fanatic, so it is easier for me to think about this in terms of penalties in a football game. During a football game if an offensive player jumps off sides then it is automatically a 5 yard penalty; it is the same for either team; and there are no variations; if a player moves before the ball is snapped then their team loses 5 yards. Just about everyone would call that fair because the rule doesn’t change depending on the situation.
God is like that; He has given us His rules, and we must follow them if we want to ” live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” There are no variations to His rules. They are the same for every person; if we want to find the abundant, fulfilling life that Jesus promised we would find in God then we must live by the rules He gave, and if we break His commands then we will suffer the consequences. It doesn’t matter who we are. The rules are the same for everyone, and these rules are given to us by God in His Word.
Jesus said in Matthew 22: 37 And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’38″This is the great and foremost commandment.39″The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’40″On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
I believe with all my heart that if we have these simple rules set in our mind then following the other commands of God will come to us as automatically as breathing!
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Father, I thank You for giving me Your rules to show me Your love, and I ask that You help me to obey even when flesh desires not to. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at:http://christianity.garritson.com/10commandments/chart.htm
Yes, You Can Ministry 