All things work together

Something to think about. 

All Things Work Together For The Good. 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NKJV

As a Christian can you say all things have worked together for the good? If you look at this verse from the perspective of the past, you will see it changes from a hopeful and uplifting verse to a prophetic and testimonial statement.

If you look back at your life as a Christian, you should be able to see the hand of God woven through it. I joined the USAF when I was 19 years old. The reason I joined the Air force was I wanted to get married and I had to support my future wife. I could have gotten a job and told her to get a job and started our lives together that way. But for reasons, I cannot remember I choose the military.

Because of the omission on my part of two letters I was assigned to Fairchild Air Force base in Spokane Washington state. I forgot to put down on my wish list of assignments D.C. The Air Force gave me my first choice, Washington without D.C. When I realized my mistake, it was much too late for me to request any changes. I was forced to go to Washington State. My fiance was not happy we were going to the opposite side of the country. From New York City to Spokane Washington a city we had never heard of.

All things worked together for the good. I was not a Christian when I left New York but shortly after going to Spokane me and my wife became believers and were saved by Jesus. Looking back there are two things my wife and I are sure of. If we had stayed near our childhood homes. We would never have accepted Christ and our marriage would not have survived.

Despite my mistakes, before we knew God, he orchestrated our meeting Him.  He used my desires and placed me where I could hear him. He took my wife and I away from the cacophony of noise surrounding our lives in New York and took us to the comparative silence of Spokane so we could hear him. He took a two-letter mistake and changed our lives for the better long before I would come to love him.

And the rest is not history. That instance is not the only time God has worked in our lives to produce a better more positively productive end. Throughout our lives, He has worked to turn our failures into victories. Thirty five years later I had a major heart attack. I all but died. Recovery took several years and financially we are still recovering. But that heart attack that took me to death's door had made me love God more than ever. Through that event, God has made me more productive and purposeful than any other time in my life. I am more alive today because of God turning a near death event to his glory and allowing me to fulfill my purpose in life. 

I could go on and on how God has turned adverse situations to wonderful victories. But unfortunately, this is but a short essay. What God has done in my life despite my mistakes and foolishness. Is a testament of God fulfilling this verse. It is also prophetic for you to know if he did it for my wife and I he will do it for you.

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Love thy neighbor

Something to think about. 

Love thy neighbor

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40  (NIV)

The first commandment is about our relationship with God the second is an expression of our relationship with God. We can only fulfill the first command by engaging in the other. If we love God as we are commanded we will be compelled to share him with others.  

Loving our neighbor is at the core of what God does and is. God is love and if we understand who God is then we can understand that the heart of God is love. By loving our neighbor we are an extension of who God is. It brings us to our primary purpose. It really brings us to our only purpose.  

But how do we show love? In the story of the good Samaritan, we are instructed to care for our neighbor in physical ways. But is that the only way we are to express love for our neighbor. We express love to our neighbor in everything we do. In our business in our actions in our conversations. Loving our neighbor is manifested in our daily living.   

Are we living every day doing the best we can in everything we do? Thereby glorifying God by our actions. Are our actions showing our neighbor Christ? Loving our neighbor is not about how we treat them, it is about how God treats them. He sent his son to die for them. Remember John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The motivation for the sacrifice was not punishment for redemption it was love for salvation. 

God gave his best for man. We are expected to give our best to our neighbor. We are to care for our neighbor whenever we can. But more than anything else we are to exemplify Christ in our daily living. This is loving or neighbor. When by our actions people can see us and recognize Christ we are loving our neighbor. Jesus came to do the will of his father. We are to do the same. We are to do the will of our father and his will is that we love because he first loved us.  

God's primary characteristic is love. Not judgment or commendation. We need to invest all of us in love. In loving God then loving our neighbor. Love has a lot of faces but in the end, it is about caring about one another.  To fulfill the greatest commandment we must engage in the second. It is impossible to fulfill the first commandment without fully engaging in the second.

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The Greatest

Something to think about.

The Greatest

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 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.
Matthew 22:36-37 ESV
 

Why is this the greatest commandment? Is it because God needs our love?

If you believe God is perfect, then you have to include in His complete lack of need. He is totally complete, without need. He does not need or want our love.  He is perfect without it. So again I ask why is this the greatest commandment? It does nothing for God.

Commandment,  is a rule. In this case, it is the single most important rule. It is a guiding principle as crucial to our existence as breathing. It is something we must do. If we must comply? If the recipient of the action does not need it why it's it so important? Since it is commanded, we can not assume it is not optional. We must love God completely. I've written all of this to ask one question. Who does loving God benefit? If God is complete and perfect our loving Him, it does not benefit Him. My love for my wife benefits her because it fulfills her need to be loved. Her love for me fulfills my need to be loved, but that is not the case with God. God will be perfect with or without our love.

We have to look at Jesus's answer in a different light.  The only way to understand the answer is by answering the question who does it benefit? Jesus's response is intended for our benefit, not God's. Jesus was not setting up a priority of laws. He is not putting the compliance of commandments in order of importance.  Even though that was the question and at first glance, it appears as a direct answer. . He answers the question with the commandment most beneficial to humanity.

All of Gods commandments were given for the benefit of man. None of them benefit God. This is no different. He answered the question in the single most important way in which man would benefit. 

So what is it about loving God that is so important?

Loving God provides us with the most beneficial existence available to man. By loving God, we receive acceptance, love, security, freedom. Our eyes are opened to realities and blessing that do not exist for blind humanity. We are set free from hopelessness and emptiness, we are adopted into the family of God we are recipients of all that God has made available to us. Our future in this life and the one that is to come is blessed for all eternity. Loving God sets us apart and allows us to enter into places only the family of God is invited to. We receive forgiveness. We are restored to our original intended existence. The benefits of loving God of obeying his commandments are that we are bestowed with all the beautiful blessings that are available to His children. It adds everything to us and nothing to God, but it is the greatest commandment because it allows God to bless us going out and coming in. Loving God is not about what we give Him.  It opens the door to us receiving the fullness of his blessing.

Just like every other commandment, it is for our benefit, not His. The only difference is that by loving God, we open the windows of heaven upon our own lives. It is the most important commandment because it is the one commandment that encompasses all the desires of God for our good.

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