The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 3:23-24a,
“This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.”
Here from John’s pen is what God requires of us, to believe in Jesus Christ and to love one another. Imagine! Of all the things God could require of us he simply asks us to recognize who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for us and to treat one another wonderfully! That doesn’t seem so overwhelming to me.
There is no end to the many things a lot of folks say we have to do to please God. I have seen lists of the things a person has to do in order to be saved. These seven requirements or those twelve (or whatever) things you have to do. As a believer, now that we are “in”, there are fresh lists of all sorts of things we need to do.
I don’t see a big list here from John. In his gospel John says “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” John 1:12. In Romans 10:9 we read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That seems pretty simple to me.
Sometimes I wonder if we don’t get overly complicated with all kinds of things we pile into lists in order to live our lives pleasing to God. I certainly wouldn’t criticize the wonderful intentions we all have, but sometimes I just wonder…
A lot of Scripture tells us how to live out these simple commands John gives us. One passage that I feel has great bearing on our deportment as believers is found in Colossians 3:12-14 “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” What a wonderful way to describe how to love one another! Again, it seems pretty simple to me. It does require humility though…
Just before this passage in Colossians 3 we read in verses 5-10, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Maybe this is where things get complicated for us. The many expressions of our sin nature seem to require attention in so many areas of our lives.
Yet we are told that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within each of us when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith and that he is in conflict with our sin nature, Galatians 5:17. As Paul reminds us in Romans 8:9, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” It would seem to me there is a natural (or should I say “supernatural”) tendency for those of us indwelt by the Holy Spirit to live consistently with what God is doing in our lives and that these many areas would take care of themselves.
Maybe simple does not necessarily rule out challenging at times… Just a few rambling thoughts this morning.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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