Psalms 89:19-20 NIV
[19] Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful people you said: “I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have raised up a young man from among the people. [20] I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
David what looked to the world like an ordinary shepherd boy was anointed as king. God knew that he was a man after God’s own heart. I have been talking about how our heart is what God looks at and that even though we are not perfect if our hearts are after God’s heart we will want to please Him. We will acknowledge our sin and confess it. Being a man after God’s own heart did not stop David from ever sinning again but it did mean that when God brought his sin to his attention he acknowledged it and agreed with God that it was sin and cried out to God for mercy. Psalm 51 shows us how that conviction and recognition of our sins should affect us. This is David’s confession and lament for what he had done with Bathsheba.
1 John 3:10 NIV
[10] This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
So our actions will reflect our hearts. I know people who profess to believe in Jesus but there are certain things that God clearly speaks against that they refuse to agree with God that it is sin. Anyone who is living in sin and continues to deny that it is sin does not have a heart for God. Living in sin is choosing to not do what is right. It can be holding onto anger, bitterness and hatred for a brother or sister in Christ to greed to sexual sins or abuse of drugs or alcohol. You make your own list. Anything that is a sin that you walk around justifying to yourself and or others and ignoring God and His word on the subject is a stronghold that the enemy is holding onto in your life. Being a child of God means surrender of yourself to the one who created you. Anything you hold back from Him is something that you are surrendering to the devil. Reminds me of an old Randy Travis song “Which Way Will You Choose?” I will share it on the sacrifice of praise button today but if you are reading on another day search for it. I love Randy Travis’ gospel music he has so much good stuff.
1 John 3:16-17 NIV
[16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Jesus laid down His life for us. When we KNOW that, it should change our hearts to be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others. This does I believe include literally lay down our lives if necessary but it more often means it figuratively. I just officiated a wedding ceremony for a young couple who were alumni of our youth group. We had talked about the kind of love that God calls us to in marriage. It is this kind of love. Agape, sacrificial love that is a willingness to put what is best for the other first. Well here we see that we are called to that kind of love for every member of the body of Christ. Which is difficult enough with someone that you have had a choice in marrying but to love like that even when some of those people are people we would not normally choose to spend time with is an understandable struggle.
1 John 3:18 NIV
[18] Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Telling someone you love them and saying nice things to them in an attempt to convince yourself and them that you mean it is not love and it is not truth. But stepping into the uncomfortable and spending time listening, doing things with and providing for someone, especially someone you would not normally spend time with speaks love. Valuing their thoughts, ideas and interests and meeting their needs often requires sacrifice. Sacrifice of our time, our own interests, our finances, or our need to be right. But If done with a true heart for God it will be an action that is not just a blessing to the one you are putting first but God always honors it and it becomes a blessing to you as well. I think that if you don’t feel blessed from it then you might want to check your motivation and your heart.
1 John 3:19-20 NIV
[19] This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: [20] If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
The wonderful thing is that no matter how well or how poorly we do at showing agape love to others the lover of our soul loves us with perfect agape love. When we fail in our imperfection Jesus who is greater than our imperfect hearts knows everything. He know the truth of our hearts and when we recognize our weakness and sins He knows that our hearts are broken because of it and we can rest in His presence. Because as we read in 1 John 1:9 “,,,he is faithful and just to forgive our sins will also cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” May that bring you peace.
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