To Truly Know Him

John 14:21

He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.

I often try to imagine the hurt that Christ must feel when those who profess to know Him are found to be disobedient. All too often I have allowed myself to believe the lie that there will always be someone else doing something worse than me. Although I find this thought comforting, it is a fallacy that hinders me from witnessing the agony my Savior must undergo with each and every act of disobedience. The Bible has much to say about heeding God’s commands; not even the least of these go unnoticed… it was for every one of our sins that Christ died on the cross.

I encourage you to really evaluate your life. Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Attending church does not make you a Christian anymore than attending a circus makes you a clown. A simple show of emotion does not qualify you to be called a son or daughter of God. Only true repentance of your sins and the acceptance of what Christ did for you on the cross will get you into heaven. 1 John 2:3-6 explains that anyone who truly accepts God’s gift of grace will keep His word. Galatians 5:22, 23 tell us that the fruit of the Spirit is not disobedience, but “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control”. It is by obeying the word of God that others will know you are a Christian.

We are called to be obedient because it is for the best interest of ourselves and those around us. Too often we imagine the rules that God has commanded us to keep as repressive and unrealistic. In reality, they are out of love. God promises that His plans for our lives our not to harm us, but to prosper us and to do good for us. His rules are an expression of His love, much the same as a parent who instructs his or her child not to play in traffic. While “stretching the rules” may seem the better choice immediately, we must stand strong against that lie, and trust that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe knows what is best for our life.

Furthermore, our disobedience to God is a stumbling block to those around us. You may think that lying to your parents, drinking on the weekends, or sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend will not hurt in the long run. You may assume that God will forgive you of your sins. Don’t buy the lie of pleasure now, repentance later. Unknowingly you may be hindering your non-Christian friends from spending eternity in heaven with the Lord. You who speak of God with your lips, and deny it by the way you live are standing against everything that Jesus Christ represents. He says, “I love you so much, that I have died on the cross for what you have done.” Yet you say, “It hasn’t hurt anyone.” I wish you could see the face of your Savior. How He must feel when His children disobey!