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Faith by Debbie Wallis
“Love means that we do what God tells us. And from the beginning He told you to love Him” 2 John 1:6. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” John 15:14. God gave us the law, the Ten Commandments, so we could see how far from His ways we are. Jesus later said in John that if we loved Him we will keep them. James 3:2 warns us that we all stumble in many ways. It’s not murder or robbing banks that most Christians are tempted with but keeping the Sabbath holy may be. Envy would be lots easier to ignore if we had everything we wanted. Gossip is no problem until we hear something juicy. We never lose our temper as long as we’re not around other people. We’re usually not grumpy or rude until someone gets under our skin. Obedience is easy in theory but difficult in practice. This is really a lesson about the pervasive power of sin. If you wash your hand and then touch a dirty plate will your clean hand make the dirty plate clean? If you walk on clean carpet with dirty shoes the carpet gets dirty. Sin is like dirt and spreads quickly. Summer is so busy with
Monday, August 31, 2015
all the outside activities, kids in and out, dogs in and out, ice cream, sand, and eating on the run. Late nights and early mornings starting all over again leaves little time for deep cleaning so I spent the day doing “spring cleaning” on the second day of school. It’s hard to keep a house clean and it’s hard to keep a life clean because sin stains everything. Sin is like a contagious disease. When a person with a cold kisses a person in perfect health, does the sick person catch health from the healthy person? No, the healthy person can catch a cold from the sick person. Sin is like dirt and like disease. It transfers much easier than holiness. When your heart isn’t right with God, whatever you do will be wrong. God wants the hearts of His people to be fully devoted to Him. “But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the Lord; your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than the fat of rams,” 1 Samuel 15:22. God doesn’t want a big house filled with empty hearts. He didn’t want animal sacrifice unless it was accompanied by a living sacrifice of the people. You can’t fool God. He isn’t impressed by religious ritual unless it is accompanied by a humble heart. God wants your heart because if He has your heart, He’ll soon have every other part of your life. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Don’t waste days, weeks, months, and even years blaming others for your problems. After you are through blaming the world for the mess you are in, you will still have deal with God. The quicker you deal with God, the quicker you can get better and move on with your life. God is not out to hurt you. He wants to bring you to a deeper
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Never give up. Keep on doing good, keep on serving the Lord, keep on God’s blessings begin the moment helping others, keep on living for we begin to obey Him. “But if we Christ, and in the end you will reap a bountiful harvest. When that glad walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one day finally comes and you see Jesus, you will have no regret serving the another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin,” Lord. 1 John 1:7. God will bless you in your obedience. The Apostle Paul “Jesus replied, ‘That’s true, but the declared in Galatians 6:9, “Let us people who are really blessed are the not become weary in doing good, ones who hear and obey God’s for at the proper time we will reap word,” Luke 11:28. If you don’t have a Bible please contact me at a harvest if we do not give up.” sfadebbie@yahoo.com and I will What is the secret of obedience? provide you one. relationship with Himself.
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