God’s Will for Us


Matthew 5:42     give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 7:12     So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Luke 6:27,28     “But to you who are listening, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:35,36     But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Galatians 6:9,10     Let us not become weary of doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers.

Ephesians 4:32     Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11     Therefore encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing.

 

I have a friend who is a New Age thinker, and believes this philosophy is new, different.  She belongs to many women groups and believes in love, tolerance, and peace.  Hmmm, I believe that is what God/Jesus and the Holy Spirit want.  When I say that to her, she becomes defensive and insists there is violence and no tolerance in the bible stories.

Hmmm, I believe you may be taking things out of context.  There was a lot of killing as the Israelites were entering into the promised land, but they were killing these people who were immoral and sacrificing children and they were worshiping stone and wood idols and not the only true God.   It becomes a huge, disgusted discussion on her part, and she will finally snap, “You have your opinion, I have mine.  But the world stinks with this hypocritical religion and I want no part of it.”

God created the world, and His intent was people would live with Him in the Garden, and they only had to avoid eating from one tree in that Garden, (and that was for obedience to a command) and they would forever having a close, intimate relationship with God.  He loved them.

But being enticed to eat of the fruit from that tree, “for certainly he won’t kill you,” and first the woman and then the man took the fruit, ate, and committed the first sin.  That sin was the death of the intimacy and the closeness they had shared with God.   So, in a sense it was a death, and Satan’s tempting lies had accomplished what he always desires–a huge separation from God.   Goal accomplished.  Satan always wants to drag us further from God, to convince us we are not loved, are not even worthy of love because we are huge sinners, we are too disgusting to be loved by God, and the lies go on and on.  If Satan can keep us separated from reaching out to God, he has succeeded, and we are the losers.

But with all the self-help books and programs to improve our life, and make us happier, we buy into the information, which is often just ok.  But God’s words are true now as they were then.  Folks will edit what they don’t want to read or face; what they have decided is now right because after all those words in the Old Testament were written thousands of years ago; they wouldn’t be pertinent now in the New Testament.  And even with that, the New Testament was written about 2100 years ago.  ‘So all that is not really pertinent to now either.’

But, I have never read that any of God’s words were to be discarded or removed.  God’s Words stand; there is no addendum saying that now any of His commands and edicts were to be changed after so many years.  Striking out because one does not want to hear or be told what the bible says is truth may go against what one believes or wants in his or her life, does not change the outcome. 

God is love.  And that too has been refuted by some who do not want to really know what the bible says.   They know that God struck down many as the Israelites pushed into the Promised Land and the outlying areas after spending 40 years in the wilderness; but they do not know why.  God wanted those who were blatantly sinning with immorality, sacrificing children, worshipping wooden or metal idols to be abolished so the Israelites would not be subject and enticed to follow those practices and therefore sin.

What we say, and our opinions about the Bible’s truth do not change the outcomes in it.  I have so many friends who do not agree with the bible; they do not want to discipline children ‘to avoid hurting their feelings,’ they are using many medications to dull pain and things they don’t wish to deal with, and who live in same sex relationships, and who talk and gossip and hurt others.  These are basically good, kind and loving men and women, but it is not for me to judge them.  It is for me to love and honor them.  If they ask, I will be more than happy to share what the Bible says, but I cannot judge them.  That is reserved for God and His Son, Jesus.  And they will be the ones to judge me on the Last Day also.

God’s in charge.  He oversees, and even when bad things happen, He can work things out for our benefit and His glory.   God gives, He loves, and He has offered a way to make it that we are freed from the punishment of sin, which we deserve, but Jesus did not.  Jesus, the Son of God willingly gave His life to a horrific death, to free us from the punishment of the sin we deserve.

We all have said, “I’m not that bad; I don’t really sin….”  No one can say they are sinless.  Even the cocky men who presented the woman “caught in the act” to Jesus  (and just an aside….caught in the act, but no man with her?) and He said with apparently little regard for the outcome, “Whoever is without sin, cast the first stone.” 

We are blessed that God designed a way to allow us to have the original closeness He wanted to have with us in the Garden, and to have a relationship with the trinity now.  Jesus’s death allowed the Holy Spirit to come and if we choose to accept the offer, He will reside in us, and help show us the way, how to pray, remind us of helpful verses we might need in a moment and to deepen the relationship with Jesus/God/and Holy Spirit.

I pray for my family and friends who have not done enough research to see if God is real.  Rebuke Him at your own knowledge of eternity if you want, but don’t do it without an honest attempt to find Him.  He has redeemed me, set me free, and brought me such happiness and peace.  Thank You God for all you have done for me and ‘mybellaviews.’

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