Honoring God with our actions and motivations
How does a Christian, one who has been transformed by the inside out by the work of the Holy Spirit, behave?
A Pharisee challenged Jesus one time, asking him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Now, he was asking this to trap Jesus, but essentially the question is “what are we supposed to be doing here? What does God want most of us?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Jesus was telling this dude that God is concerned about our hearts! And about who we love. It’s not about having everything done just so, appearing perfect to others. And He says as much to a gaggle of Pharisees later, crying “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” We can never clean ourselves up enough on the outside to be perfect, able to approach a perfect God on our own merit. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you have to try to clean yourself up before you are acceptable to God. There is no hope for that, friend.
God’s love for us: unearned blessings
Check out the parable of the prodigal son:
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
Luke 15:11-24
Notice what happened with the son. He travels all the way back to his father’s house, with pigslop dirty clothes and the shame of functionally telling his father to his face that he wished he were dead, and his father runs to him while he’s still far off, embraces him, and clothes him with sandals, the best robe, and a ring on his finger. What didn’t happen is the father didn’t wait on the porch for the son to drag his feet all the way back to the house. The father didn’t listen to his son while crossing his arms with a disapproving frown on his face. He didn’t tell the son that he would reluctantly take him back- as a servant. This father RAN to his son the moment he spotted him on the horizon. He gave his acceptance to his son without his son doing anything to earn it. He clothed him. And the father threw a huge feast to celebrate his son’s return.
God loves us the same way. We are freed to live out of the Lord’s full acceptance and approval of us. His massive, overwhelming love for us is both paid for and given by Him alone. Our sins have been paid for on the cross. If you are His child, He is working in your heart everyday to make you more and more like His Son.
God’s will is that we love others the way He has loved us
And Paul, writing to the church in Rome after Jesus had ascended back to heaven, encouraged them in their walk with Jesus, saying to,
“Be sure your love is true love. Hate what is sinful. Hold on to whatever is good. Love each other as Christian brothers. Show respect for each other. Do not be lazy but always work hard. Work for the Lord with a heart full of love for Him. Be happy in your hope. Do not give up when trouble comes. Do not let anything stop you from praying. Share what you have with Christian brothers and sisters who are in need. Give meals and a place to stay to those who need it. Pray and give thanks for those who make trouble for you. Yes, pray for them instead of talking against them. Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad. Live in peace with each other. Do not act or think with pride. Be happy to be with poor people. Keep yourself from thinking you are so wise. When someone does something bad to you, do not pay him back with something bad. Try to do what all men know is right and good. As much as you can, live in peace with all men. Christian brothers and sisters, never pay back someone for the bad he has done to you. Let the anger of God take care of the other person. The Holy Writings say, “I will pay back to them what they should get, says the Lord.” “If the one who hates you is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him water. If you do that, you will be making him more ashamed of himself.” Do not let sin have power over you. Let good have power over sin!”
That’s quite the list, eh? This isn’t something that you can muster up in your own effort. Sure, you could put up a front, just performing these behaviors robotically. Maybe nobody would even notice it. And you would receive your approval from other people. Maybe others would start to compliment you on how kind you are, or how giving you are, etc. But the Lord is concerned with the heart, not the outer appearance. God comments in Hosea that “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.” The basis of which we are empowered to do the good works above, from the heart as to the Lord, is from our love for the Lord God. We aren’t commanded to act like good christians so other people see, we are commanded to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Let that sink in. Our lives, this whole world, all of human history…it’s all been about Him and His glory.
“You are wonderful, LORD, and you deserve all praise, because you are much greater than anyone can understand.”
Psalm 145:3
One of the chief ways we bring glory to God is extending His loving care to those around us. Jesus, after washing his disciples’ feet, charges them to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35)”. That’s not just the people who look and act like us, or our co-workers and friends. That’s not even just our family members, who can be hard to love at times. We are commanded to love all people- regardless of differences in lifestyle, ethic group, political alignment, age, education, etc. We are commanded to show love towards those who are easy to love as well as to those who are difficult to love. And this has to be an outpouring of God’s love through us, because I know I’ve had a difficult time in the past loving and serving people who just get on my nerves. I’ve had to surrender that annoyance to God over and over and ask that He would pour His love through my heart onto this person. God changes our hearts and our minds as we surrender to him.
God is love itself. It’s His character, and He is honored when we reflect his character and strive to love others as well. He emphasizes that loving others is not about outer appearances, but about genuine heart intentions. God commands us to love not just our friends but love everyone, despite differences.
Come back next week as I dig into what the Bible has to say about people pleasing.
Fox Family Counseling 