gladitudes

I just read this and it has me thinking. Note, especially, verse 92.

Psalm 119:91-93 (NLT)

⁹¹ Your regulations remain true to this day,
for everything serves your plans.
⁹² If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy,
I would have died in my misery.
⁹³ I will never forget your commandments,
for by them you give me life.

I think something that often amazes me about David and something, too, that I find pretty convicting is how David really, truly rejoiced in God’s commands. It’s easy to rejoice in God’s blessing, God’s mercy, God’s grace, etc. But, I think for many, God’s commands seem… oh… difficult.

David didn’t feel this way at all. In the above passage he writes that God’s instructions sustained him with joy! Do we find JOY in God’s commands? Do we find joy to the point where it sustains us in misery? I’d say not probably for most of us.

Something David understood very clearly and something I think we’d do well to understand is that God’s commands to us are given out of His love. He loves us without fail always and therefore He has shown us how we should live to experience the best life. His commands are not arbitrary or meaningless, but rather for our benefit and protection. In my life I have found it takes faith to believe this at times, but experience has also proven it true.

If you’re interested more in this, read Psalm 19 as well.

As I was categorizing this post, I saw my category for legalism. It made me think: If we understand that God’s commands come out of his love for us, it blows legalism out of the water. We don’t obey to be good enough for God, but rather we obey to submit ourselves to His love! Very different.

I had a good conversation with a dear friend of mine last night about God and His interest in our hearts over the outside appearances that we put on. I read this today and really loved the image it gives.

Matthew 21:28-32 (NLT)

“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. ³⁰Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.

³¹“Which of the two obeyed his father?”

They replied, “The first.”

Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. ³²For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.”

This parable makes it really clear: What counts before God isn’t the neat, tidy lives that we try to portray. The thing that counts is a heart that is humble and repentant before God. Jesus affirms the hearts of prostitutes and thieves here over the hearts of religious people whose lives look stellar.

This is convicting to me on a personal level because I know that oftentimes, my energy and my efforts are spent more on making my outside appearance good, than on having a humble and right heart before my God. It makes me think..

Be blessed today…

Today when I was reading the Bible, I came across a passage in Galatians that I have read, I’m sure over a hundred times, yet it really hit me again.

Galatians 5:13-14 says,
“For you have been called to live in freedom—not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. ¹⁴For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (NLT)

I think, as a Christian who is seeking to live in God’s grace, it can be easy to forget why we have been freed from the law. Sometimes, we can focus on the fact that we are free, and forget that we must respond in a way fitting to the gift we have received. We have not been freed to go live however we want to—that would be quite ungrateful. We have been freed so that we can love and serve those around us. I don’t fully understand how this works, but it makes me excited to trust God to show me as I attempt to do it.