Keeping our enthusiasm for God

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Romans 12:11

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.

How do we keep our enthusiasm (or zeal) for God? How do we maintain our love for him, for his word and our love of obeying him? How do we never be lacking in our passion for serving him?

They're the type of questions I've been working through lately - it's so easy to read the bible as just an academic exercise, to obey God out of mere duty. But to do it out of love? To love doing it because it's in service of our creator and saviour - that's entirely different, and I don't entirely know how we keep doing it.

Never be lacking in zeal.

The thing about our relationship with God is that it is never static. We are always either coming closer to him or further from him in our lives. We are either trusting him or relying on something else. We are either worshipping him or another. But how do we keep our enthusiasm for God? Here are a few thoughts:

• In some senses it does come down to a choice. We need to choose to serve God and to live for him. We need to choose to obey him. Without our choice to serve God and to live entirely for him with zeal, we will not do it. So that's a good first step. But how do we facilitate that? How do we make it real and genuine?

• The second thing to do it pray. God alone can change our hearts, and he alone can make us more like him. If we want to live for him and to love him we need to ask for his help - only he can replace our hearts of stone with ones of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). We need to pray constantly and consistently for God's help. He may not seem to answer straight away. he may not answer how we want. But he always hears the prayers of his people and he always does what is for our good (Romans 8:28).

• To love God we need to know him. To do that we need to read his word. We also need to reflect on his promises and his faithfulness - all he has done for us and for his people. Most of all: reflect on Jesus and what he has done for us and how unfathomable that love is. When we consider all God has done and recognise the depths of his love it's easier to love him back and therefore to live for him.

• Serve God. As we give our lives to God and invest them in serving him and as we store up riches in heaven, our hearts will be there also. Part of that involves removing our idols from our lives - we need to consider what we put before God in our lives and remove it from that place however possible. That's hard work! But to love God first we need to get rid of everything that's in the way. (1 John 2:15-17).

When we slip away and start to find that we are lacking in zeal we can work to fix it by doing these things. John, in Revelations 2:4-5 said this:

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

What are the works we did at first? Repentance and faith. We need to "confess our sins" because "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God will forgive us and if we genuinely turn back to him he will save us and bring us back to him. Pray, ask for his help and work at the things above!

Start now.

I hope they were helpful thoughts, fell free to comment if you have any thoughts or other ideas.
God Bless!
Nat.

The link between Forgiveness and Love.

Luke 7:40-43, 47

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said. 

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. 

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Want to love God more? Understand the gravity of sin and how much he has forgiven us.

This whole passage is absolutely beautiful. Jesus is invited to the house of a Pharisee to eat, and while he is there a 'sinner' (perhaps a prostitute) comes, weeps on his feet, dries them with her hair, kisses them and pours perfume on them. That sounds a bit weird in our culture, but it is beautiful.

The point of the passage is that she realises her sin, and she repents of it. She turns to Jesus even though she is a wretched sinner and she knows it). She seeks mercy from him and he grants it freely. This is juxtaposed to the pharisee who is 'righteous' by the standards of the time and looks down on her. Ultimately it links our recognition of how sinful we really are with how much we love God.

God forgives us even though we could never ever repay the debt we owe him. We sin and we deserve his wrath eternally, yet in Jesus there is forgiveness: Jesus is God, he lives perfectly and when we put our faith in him he takes our sin. On the cross he died and paid the penalty for our sin, suffering God's wrath in our place. He is the link between love and forgiveness. We need to love him more and more and we can do this by realising how sinful we are more and more and reflecting on how much we have been forgiven. In honesty it is those who have sinned more who realise more how much they have been forgiven and it makes sense that they would have a greater love for God because of it. Obviously this is not an excuse to sin more though - if we love God we will do what he says and we will stop sinning. We can;t use the excuse of sinning more so we will be forgiven more and love God more. It doesn't work like that.
There is complete forgiveness in Jesus. No matter what you've done, no matter who you are, God is willing to forgive anyone who turns to him. We cannot have sinned so badly that God won't forgive us. He is God, he is powerful enough and merciful enough to forgive us completely. To doubt if he would be able to forgive you is to doubt that he is God, because God is the most powerful and merciful being in the universe, and he is certainly more powerful and merciful then our sin. Repent and Believe! Put your faith in him! Only Jesus can save, and he does so freely. Turn to him, he will forgive. Love and obey him. Praise Him!

How much do you owe the moneylender? How much have you been forgiven? How much do you love God as a response to that?

Building our lives on Jesus

Luke 6:46-49

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

We cannot come to Jesus and yet not do what he says. Sure, we are 100% saved by grace, but if we are truly saved then we will do what he says. Why's that? Because part of faith is repentance: saying sorry for sins and our rebellion and turning to God and because if we truly love God and trust him we will obey him and put him first. We know a tree is healthy if it produces good fruit. We know a medicine works properly if it does its job and helps heal sickness. We know a Christian by their works, not because their works save them, but because if they are saved they will obey God.

Building our lives on Jesus.

There are two ways to approach our walk with God. The first is like a man who builds his house on the rock. It takes effort, it's inconvenient, but it shows true care and love. If we study God's word and work hard to obey it, it won;t be convenient for us, but it is better. It shows that we genuinely do love God.

The result for the man in the parable is that when the rain and storms come his house remains standing. If we build our lives on Jesus, the rock, focussing on him, working hard to know him, his promises and to obey him then when hard times come, when trials and temptations arise it will be ok. We will rely on God's promises and he will sustain us. This also applies to when Jesus returns and judges the world. If we have based our lives on our faith in him then we will be saved and not condemned (because he has taken our sin and paid the price if we are Christians). Note that it isn't how well he built his house that matters. What matters is that he built it on Jesus. If we live our lives for God's glory and base them on living like Jesus and on God's word then God himself will uphold and sustain us. It'll be harder and less fun and less convenient, but it will last eternally. 

Building our lives on The World.

Obviously the opposite is true for the other man. If we don't truly live for Jesus, but just fake it then it won't stand. God knows who truly trusts in him and who the hypocrites are. You can't fool God, so don't fake it. Don't pretend you're following him if you really aren't. Likewise if we base our lives on things other then Jesus then it won't last. The world is full of things that promise much, but just slide away. Money, friends, family, work and so many other things, which are good blessings from God can become our idols. We base our lives on them and they slip away, leaving us with nothing.

When hard times come the hypocrites, who just follow Jesus because it's easier usually fall away. They find it too hard and don't have God's promises to sustain them. Likewise if we trust in the things of this world then it will all crumble when Christ returns to judge. He alone can save, and therefore everyone who has rejected him is still under God's just and righteous wrath.

The question we have to ask ourselves is this: Do I really trust in God? If so, am I building my life on his word and on his promises? Am I obeying him? We aren't saved by what we do, but if we are saved then we will do good stuff because of it to honour our saviour.

Works that come from love.

1 John 5:1-5

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

There's no doubt a lot that can be pulled out of these five verses, but I just want to focus on verses two and three: "This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world."

Why do we have to obey God

First up I want to address the question of why, as Christians, do we have to obey God? Obedience and Faith are tied very closely together. If we put our faith in God and have repented of our sins (if we are truly Christians we have done/do this), then we need to give up sin. The point of repentance is saying sorry for rebelling against God and turning around. If it's true sorrow for sin then we would be doing the opposite sand obeying God instead.

Faith is similar - is we put our trust in Jesus that he died for our sins, then we will also trust him that his ways are better than ours and we will obey Him.

If we are Christians then we are called to obey God. Our works do not save us. But we are saved and as a result we do works. It's like medicine - true medicine will fix a problem. If we are truly saved we will work at preventing sin in our lives because we are saved. It's only good medicine if it fixes the problem.

We love God by obeying him and we obey him out of love.

Everything about our obedience to God is based on love. It;s not about having to obey God, or duty. It's about being thankful to God and loving him. When we realise that Jesus died for our sins and how little we deserved that, we should be motivated to love and serve him. We don't do it as a way of repaying him, we do it out of gratitude for what he has already done for us. We can never repay God for all he has done for us.

Of course, we won't always want to obey God. Life is hard, and temptations are sometimes very hard to resist. We don't always want to obey God. But if we truly love him and are thankful for all he has done, then we need to dutifully obey him even if it isn't what we want.

We aren't forced into obeying God. We aren't his slaves in that sense. We don't obey a cruel master out of fear. We obey a compassionate and merciful master out of love. We obey a faithful and loving father out of respect and thankfulness because he has adopted us into his family and forgiven us of our sin (if we are Christians).

Part of love is being selfless. Christ died for us our of love for us even though we didn't deserve it. God deserves our obedience and we should be ready to give up some of the things of this world out of love for him. I'm not married, but I think it would be a similar situation: If you love your wife, you would give things up to spend time with her or to please her.

We should love to please God, even if we don't love giving up some things which we enjoy (that are sinful). We should give them up because we love God more.

The question is then, how do we love God more?

Here are a few thoughts:

• Read the bible. Know God's word and know what he has done, and know who he is.
• Spend time dwelling on God's character and praising him not only for what he has done, but for who he is. 
• Pray. If reading the bible is God speaking to us, and prayer is us speaking to God, then to have a true relationship with God we need to do both. "Cast your anxieties on him" (1 Peter 5:7) and also spend time praising him for who he is.
• Obey him. John says: "this is love for God: to keep his commands." - we show our love for God by obeying him.

God Bless,

Nat.