Confidence

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; Philippians 1:6

There are times when we just don’t seem to be making progress in our spiritual life. It is good to know that when God starts a project that He sees it to its completion.

God started something in our life. It was a new life, created in Christ Jesus and we are His workmanship.(Eph.2:10). He continues this work throughout the rest of our life until we are finished with our race and go to meet Him face to face.

The Life Application Notes say: “God’s work for us began when Christ died on the cross in our place. His work in us began when we first believed. Now the Holy Spirit lives in us, enabling us to be more like Christ every day. Paul is describing the process of Christian growth and maturity that began when we accepted Jesus and continues until Christ returns.”

God is working in each of our lives. He is causing us to grow in grace and faith. He is knocking off the rough edges, smoothing us out and polishing us up until the day His work in us is complete. Don’t be discouraged when things are not going fast enough. Just relax and stop working so hard and just allow the growth to just blossom. When was the last time you heard a flower grunting and groaning and working at trying to bloom? It just does. Even in the desert, in the harshest of circumstances a flower grows...and without working is beautiful, as God created it to be.

Remember that God won’t give up on you. He promises to finish the work he has begun. When you feel imperfect, inadequate, or painfully aware of your shortcomings, remember God’s promise and provision. Don’t let your present condition rob you of the joy of knowing Christ or keep you from growing closer to him.

Love..and Obedience

John 14:14-26 23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

In this passage two things are connected for us by Jesus, Love...and Obedience. If a person loves Jesus, he will keep the commandments of Jesus. Literally, what Jesus is saying is, "If you keep loving me" you will keep my commands.
Obedience does not bring love; it is love that will bring obedience. In other words, continued love prevents disobedience. It seems that obedience is the indicator of our love for Jesus. I don’t know how many times I have heard it said...He (or she) really loves the Lord ...but…It is the conjunction but, that changes everything. It is a word that is used to indicate an exception. They love the Lord...but they are living together…violating His word. They love the Lord…but they refuse to forgive someone for having done something to them. They love the Lord…but they continue to live to themselves, their own way and doing their own thing. We often use this to describe a person that we like/or love and we don’t want to admit that by their lifestyle, they are in rebellion to God. Why is it that we say that we love Jesus…and we would do anything…even die for Him and yet we cannot or will not do what it takes to live for Him…do obey His word?
There are two things we need to understand about this obedience and love. The first is that obedience is not optional for believers. Jesus stated a simple fact that must be clearly understood: “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” This is the correct translation. Jesus is not giving an optional commandment, “If you love me, and it is comfortable, and it fits into your life style, then keep my commandments.” He is saying that the man or woman who truly loves Him will keep His commandments. To the believer, there is no option. He loves Jesus; therefore, he keeps His commandments. By doing this the believer is not claiming perfection, but he or she is claiming to love Jesus and to believe with all his heart that Jesus is the Son of God. The believer may fail, they may fall but it is not a life style. The believer doesn’t excuse sin and doesn’t ignore sin. Instead, the believer makes it a life’s goal to please Jesus in all that is said and done. It is the heart’s desire of the believer to please Jesus.
What it means to love Jesus must be clearly understood. To love Jesus is not an emotional thing. Don’t get me wrong. it involves emotions, but it is not based upon emotions. It is not about feelings. Otherwise my life becomes confusing and up and down. If I am feeling good today I am loving Jesus, and feeling bad tomorrow I am not loving Jesus. Loving Jesus is not a changeable experience and it is not an up and down emotion. It is not an emotional love that changes with feelings. To love Jesus is not just a rational or mental commitment. Of course it involves the mind, but it is not just deciding that Jesus is the Son of God and adopting His teachings and morality as one’s standard in life. It is not just living by His teachings and doing the best a person can. It is not a matter of the mind alone, not a matter of disciplining one’s life to keep the law and its rules and regulations.
To love Jesus is a matter of the heart and of the spirit: a matter of man’s most vital part, man’s innermost being, all that a man is. The heart is the seat of man’s affection and will (devotion). The heart attaches and focuses our affection and will and devotion to an object or a person. The heart causes a man to will to give himself either to good or bad. To love Jesus means that a man focuses his heart and affections and will (his devotion) upon God by giving and receiving the love of God. It means that a man gives his affection and will, all he is and has to Jesus Christ. It means he... freely accepts Jesus. If we freely accept Jesus, why is it that we fight Him so much for control?
To love Jesus means that we sacrificially give all we are and have to Jesus. But just giving worldly goods and giving of your time is not enough if you are going to hold back on the rest of your life and continue in your own sin and rebellion. Rebellion doesn’t necessarily always look like rebellion. At least we don’t think it does. If sin dominates our lives then it is the sin that is loved more than the Lord no matter how much we want to convince ourselves otherwise. Jesus told us what the greatest commandments were:
And to love Him (God) with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Mark 12:33 (NKJV) All have sinned and fallen short,(Rom 3:23) but God’s grace is greater. But God’s grace should cause us to love Him all the more, not become an excuse to sin.