Readings:
I Kings 9
John 8:48-59
Focus:
I Kings 9:4a: "If you, for your part, live in my sight as your father David lived, in integrity and uprightness, doing all I command you and observing my statutes and my judgments, then I shall establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel for ever...."
John 8: 51: "In very truth I tell you, if anyone obeys my teaching he will never see death."
God has always been about the business of promising to us that if we follow what he asks of us, we will have his love and favor. This was not an Old Testament teaching that Jesus nullified, nor was it a new commandment that Jesus brought that differed from before. Rather, it was both an Old Testament teaching and a commandment from Jesus. God wants us to obey him, and when we do that, he promises us his love and our very lives. It's a good promise!
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to obey is better than sacrifice - amen
ReplyDeleteI like the way the PHILLIPS VERSION expresses it in I John 2:
ReplyDelete"In pratice, the more a (hu)man learns to obey God's laws, the more truly and fully does he express his love for him. Obedience is the test of whether we really live "in God" or not. The life of a (hu)man who professes to be living in God must bear the stamp of Christ".