See if you can grasp the concept. Jesus touched a
leper. Jesus touched the dead. He let the disciples pick
corn on the Sabbath. He forgave the woman caught in
adultery. All these examples are contrary to the Law but
consistent with love. He spoke to a Samaritan woman on the street
alone. He told the Pharisees that their father was the
devil. He threw out the money changers in the Temple. Jesus
was unconventional but acted in love for God and humankind. I have grown more by acting in love than I ever did by just following the law. Going to church is good. Giving to the church is good. Saying your prayers is good. But it is not enough to just do your duty. You must demonstrate love for God and love for neighbor. I demonstrate love for God when I put him first. It is when I get alone with God and seek his face that I find him. It is when I get alone with God and praise and worship him that I enter his presence. It is when God comes before any other consideration that I establish a relationship with God. It is when I act in love before God that I am truly blessed and pleasing to him. This holds true for neighbor. There are times when I have made a person a project. . It is when I sacrifice and go the extra mile for someone because maybe by showing that person unconditional love they may enter the kingdom and be truly blessed is the only way they may get to heaven. Many people in the church have an intellectual knowledge of God. They believe he exists but they have no real knowledge of him. I think they believe that as long as they keep the commandments as best as they can that is enough. They think it is enough to go to church, put some money in the basket, and give a little of their time at Christmas to the poor. That is not the mind of Christ. God wants to stretch you. Even if you ask Jesus into your heart, unless you put the word of God into practice, it is not enough. I am unconventional. I follow the Spirit and not the law. I spend quality time with God above every other consideration and because of that I live under grace, I live in freedom, and I don’t follow the pattern of the secular church. Living by faith means that you might break the law to live in love. That is the concept of the gospels but people don’t get it. They don’t get it because they do not put into practice what Jesus said. They may have heard the gospels for forty years and never acted on what was heard. They live in the law and they do not change. They do not enter the kingdom. They are lost. The path to life is narrow. The path to life is love. It is a faith life. Broad is the path that leads to destruction. It is a path of convention and not a path of love. Find God! Don’t settle for the routine. Don’t settle for convention. Learn what love truly is. Amen |