Purification, obedience & love
God only desires what is best for us. Yet, this is so hard for us to wrap our heads around. The lie that made its way in when Eve chose to believe satan over God has infiltrated this broken world. The lie that maybe God is hiding something from us, that maybe He is not absolutely good. And that maybe we can find something better if we just do what we want.
But is that the character of God that is shown through sending His son to earth to be the ultimate sacrifice for all of us? Is that the type of love displayed by Jesus choosing to stay on that cross, enduring more pain than we can imagine, because He desired a relationship with us so much? No, it's not.
God loves all of us so much, that He refused to let sin stop us from having a relationship with Him. God had the perfect plan, and that plan offers salvation to all. Literally, everyone. Regardless of your past. Nothing is too sinful for Jesus’ blood to not cover. His blood can cover and remove the worst of the worst sins.
And it is God’s desire that we all come to the purification that He has offered! Why would He offer salvation to the whole earth if He did not desire for all to come to relationship with Him? This is the invitation to purification that we all have before us. If you are willing to stop the busyness of life, to stop and evaluate nature, to stop and evaluate the things happening in the world today, I believe that God will reveal to you the truth behind who He is. The truth behind Jesus being His son and the fact that His sacrifice offers purification for us all…we simply must respond to the invitation!
So what about those of us who have responded to the invitation and have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior? Well, then we are called to grow in our maturity. We are called to pursue God and grow in our knowledge of Him. We are called to study His living and active word, meditate on it and live out the instruction found in scripture. We are called to obedience! You see, Jesus does not only offer salvation for all of eternity to us, to save us from eternity separated from God our Father, but God is SO good that He desires to set us free and for us to walk in an abundance of joy in this life too!
There is no greater joy, comfort or pleasure found than being in the tangible presence of God. Once you are exposed to this and can recognize His presence, it has a way of being all that you desire! But God wants us to pursue His presence. To pursue the things of His kingdom, to pursue intimacy with Him and to let go of the things of this world. When we do these things, we begin to walk in greater joy. We begin to walk in greater fulfillment. Our open wounds begin to be healed and we start to walk in wholeness, as Jesus fills us up with Himself! This is part of obedience. Pursuing God, pursuing intimacy with Him, pursuing righteousness and letting go of our dreams and desires and picking up His desires and plans for our lives.
Salvation is the most beautiful gift of all. But once we are saved, I believe that is just the beginning! We must grow in our understanding of God, who He is, His character and discover His specific plans for our lives. Once we receive salvation, then we are all called to go out and make disciples of all nations. All of us! But this instruction looks different for us all. Some of us are called to overseas missions, some of us are called to pastoring, some of us are called to church planting, some of us are called to be the light in our office, some of us are called to be the light in our families. And as we grow in our maturity and intimacy, we are able to better discern the voice of the Holy Spirit and His leading us into the specific plans He has for us. Just think about it, someone else coming to salvation could be waiting on your obedience! Will that person not be saved due to a lack of obedience on your part? I don’t think so. However, God wants you to be a part of their salvation story! He wants you to be involved and to share the good news, and that is awesome! So obedience is a big deal.
Lastly, the greatest commandment we all have is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves. However, the type of love God desires is not our broken love as we see it in this world. But the never ending, actionable, agape love that God has for us. The only way for us to be able to walk in this vast love for those around us, is with God’s help. This love is so great, deep and wide, that we are not capable of it without God helping us! And God wants to help us. So don’t be afraid to ask Him. Just have an open heart, welcome Him into every crevice of your heart, ask Him to heal your heart, ask Him to show you the love He has for you and the love He desires you to walk in. Ask Him to bring you to greater obedience and love as you walk through this life hand in hand with Him!
