Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – February 11, 2016
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Deuteronomy 30:15-16
In Christian circles, we talk a great deal about our love for the Lord. We sing songs of praise that proclaim our affection and desire for Him. We join our hearts with the words of Scripture and declare our devotion to Christ and His Kingdom. Yet, like any relationship, for this love to be true, for this love to be genuine, it must be more than lip service and good intentions. Our love for God must be more than a warm feeling or emotional response that has no connection to the concrete realities of our lives.
When we love someone, we live our lives in ways that show our affection to be true and genuine. We are especially attentive to the needs, concerns, and desires of the one we love. We learn to receive love and love in return, not simply by words of affection but through tangible acts of love, self-sacrifice, and faithfulness.
Throughout the Scriptures, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, the Lord has made his desires for us abundantly clear. As it says in Deuteronomy, he has set before us two ways of life: a way that leads to life and a loving relationship with Him, and a way of life that leads to death due to our rejection of his love. As such, we cannot as Christians say we love the Lord and then live lives that reject his path of blessing and fulfillment! We must, as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians, “test the sincerity of our love” (2 Corinthians 8:8). One way we can test the sincerity of our love is to examine our lives and see if the love we profess from our lips is consistent with the actions of our hands and our feet.
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord (Psalm 119:1).
If you say you love God, let your declaration of love be supported by a dedicated life. Commit yourself this day with renewed vigor, to the life of faithful devotion to His way. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, boldly keep the commands of Christ and in so doing prove your love to be genuine!
Prayer: Father, would you find our love to be genuine as we faithfully reject the way of sin and death and follow you on the road that leads to life and blessing?
Application: Is there consistency in your life between the words you say and the life you live?
Related Readings: Proverbs 7:1-2; Matthew 5:19; 1 John 4:20; 1 John 5:3
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Worship Video: 4 minutes – United: Seasons
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