God cares about the way we accomplish things, not just getting things done.
John 14:6 "6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
There is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. Just as there is only one way to follow Christ, His way.
John 14:15 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "
Notice something about this passage? It doesn't say its a command to keep His commandments, God says it is the way you walk all the time. You do not have to be commanded to do what you do naturally.
When our nature is changed inito a new creation we no longer think the same way we did before. It is God's heart we seek and His ways.
John 14:21
"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."
God will only reveal Himself, His heart to those who want Him.
1 John 2:3
"By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments."
Our nature must be changed by Christ, it is not something we do to ourselves, we desire it and Christ does it.
2 John 1:6
"And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love."
Ephesians 2:10 "10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
This change and this walk are not in appearances only, it is an entire character change from the inside out. When our character is Christlike then our walk will also be such.
Matthew 15:17-19 "…17“Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.…"
A born again believer does not have to work hard to live an obedient life, they just do as easily as they breathe, it comes naturally to want to do the right thing.
New believers at times will walk in fear and try real hard, it is when we do naturally and immediately what we should without having to analyze it that we walk in maturity.
I recall a story of a Chrsitian woman who was driving a car in a parking lot. She accidently backed into a fence and knocked over a portion of the fence. She looked at her friend who was with her and didn't know what to do. She thought about not telling the owners and then she turned to her friend and asked what she should do. Her friend was a more mature Christian, she told her without hesitation that she should tell the owner apologizing and take whatever comes.
The less mature woman took the advice of the believer and told the owners of the shop that she had knocked over a portion of the fence. A lesson was learned that day, trusting Christ was better than running in fear from our responsibilities.
The owner of the shop and fence smiled with a kind look on her face and said, "that's alright people do that all the time, no need to pay for it, we will just put it back up easily."
The more mature Chrsitian asked the less mature believer if she felt better for having told on herself. The answer came back, "yes, now I don't have to feel guilty over it, its all fixed.
God made His principles to fix relationships and resolve probllems the right way. If we follow Him we might have someone rude to us but we will be free of guilt. In this case no one was rude and there was no guilt for hiding it.
Hallelujah.....God wins again!!!!!!
It is surprising how many people think refusing to admit our flaws or mess ups will be better, in the long run it is never better. Handling things quickly and honestly has far reaching blessings.
Proverbs 28:13
"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."
James 5:16
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
Proverbs 16:18
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
The longer we wait to confess sin the more bitter we become on the inside. The more we deny our guilt the worse our character becomes. This happens because in order to justify the sin we must make up lies in our mind why it was alright to sin or that we did not sin at all when clearly we did.
Those who want to grow in holiness and learn deeply the heart of God must confess sin quickly to be cleansed of it.
The joyful life is the one that easily confesses quickly and grows in love because of it.
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