You will not give them over to the desires of their enemies. The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed. You will heal him on the bed where he lies. (vs. 2-3)
What is it that God wants from us? Perfection? Absolute Righteousness? Regular fasting? Piety? Being a Christian can really sound like hard work. Some would say it is an overbearing religion based on archaic rules and needless asceticism regulated by an angry God Who is ever vigilant to crack a holy whip when we fail. Many live like that is the truth. The person who understands the Lord that way has missed His character when reading the Bible. Yes, He was angry sometimes. The rightful Judge sees absolute justice and meets it with its punishment, especially under the old covenant of Moses. Christ came as the exact representation of God....what did He want? What was He like?
Ready? Here is what God wants: Mankind. He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you - to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. That's it. So go do it today.....
Oops! You can't. Not if you don't know Him first. In this case, the last thing on the list is the first thing we need. To walk humbly with our God. To dwell among us has always been our Father's greatest desire. To talk with Him in the cool of the day, as Adam and Eve did before the fall. The entire purpose of the tabernacle in the wilderness was to give the Lord a place to dwell with us. And now, since Christ came and actually lived with us and died for us, God can dwell in these tabernacles made of dust....jars of clay. We can know His heart in a way that was impossible before the Holy Spirit came to indwell us. The Father can tell us what He is thinking. For who has known the Lord's mind, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1Corinthians 2) We aren't left here to figure this out by ourselves. Walk humbly and listen. His Word is His conversation with us activated and made alive by the Spirit. We can really, actually, verifiably know the heart and mind of God. We are truly equipped to do what He wants us to not by our own energy, but by His power living within us.....therefore, humility. When I am weak, then I am strong. When I know what I cannot do without Him, I am awed by what He can do with me.
God is love. He is just. He loves mercy. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.( James 2). He expects our hearts to care for what He cares for. He wants to live large in us. So if our lives are only a reflection of adhering to, without the help of the Holy Spirit, what we see the rules to be, we might be doing good works but doing them because we think they make us good. We don't need God if we are good enough without Him. If we give to the poor without God, do His promises to sustain and keep us hold true? Yes. He says so. They will be happy - blessed for their giving. The good Samaritan was not a "righteous" man as were the others who passed by the bleeding, beaten man on the highway. But he was the only one Christ commended as having a heart like His Father's. Because all good things come down from the Father above whether we acknowledge that or not. Are these things of eternal good without faith? Probably not.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can a faith that does not express itself in works be a saving faith? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but don't give them what the body needs, what good is it?
But someone will say, "You have your faith and I have my works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith from my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe this...and they shudder.
If we love God we know what He asks of us not just because it is written in a book of laws but because it is encrypted on our hearts. Taking what He has given to us and sharing it with those in need will be our joy, not our duty.
What is it that God wants from us? Perfection? Absolute Righteousness? Regular fasting? Piety? Being a Christian can really sound like hard work. Some would say it is an overbearing religion based on archaic rules and needless asceticism regulated by an angry God Who is ever vigilant to crack a holy whip when we fail. Many live like that is the truth. The person who understands the Lord that way has missed His character when reading the Bible. Yes, He was angry sometimes. The rightful Judge sees absolute justice and meets it with its punishment, especially under the old covenant of Moses. Christ came as the exact representation of God....what did He want? What was He like?
Ready? Here is what God wants: Mankind. He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you - to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. That's it. So go do it today.....
Oops! You can't. Not if you don't know Him first. In this case, the last thing on the list is the first thing we need. To walk humbly with our God. To dwell among us has always been our Father's greatest desire. To talk with Him in the cool of the day, as Adam and Eve did before the fall. The entire purpose of the tabernacle in the wilderness was to give the Lord a place to dwell with us. And now, since Christ came and actually lived with us and died for us, God can dwell in these tabernacles made of dust....jars of clay. We can know His heart in a way that was impossible before the Holy Spirit came to indwell us. The Father can tell us what He is thinking. For who has known the Lord's mind, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1Corinthians 2) We aren't left here to figure this out by ourselves. Walk humbly and listen. His Word is His conversation with us activated and made alive by the Spirit. We can really, actually, verifiably know the heart and mind of God. We are truly equipped to do what He wants us to not by our own energy, but by His power living within us.....therefore, humility. When I am weak, then I am strong. When I know what I cannot do without Him, I am awed by what He can do with me.
God is love. He is just. He loves mercy. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.( James 2). He expects our hearts to care for what He cares for. He wants to live large in us. So if our lives are only a reflection of adhering to, without the help of the Holy Spirit, what we see the rules to be, we might be doing good works but doing them because we think they make us good. We don't need God if we are good enough without Him. If we give to the poor without God, do His promises to sustain and keep us hold true? Yes. He says so. They will be happy - blessed for their giving. The good Samaritan was not a "righteous" man as were the others who passed by the bleeding, beaten man on the highway. But he was the only one Christ commended as having a heart like His Father's. Because all good things come down from the Father above whether we acknowledge that or not. Are these things of eternal good without faith? Probably not.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can a faith that does not express itself in works be a saving faith? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but don't give them what the body needs, what good is it?
But someone will say, "You have your faith and I have my works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith from my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe this...and they shudder.
If we love God we know what He asks of us not just because it is written in a book of laws but because it is encrypted on our hearts. Taking what He has given to us and sharing it with those in need will be our joy, not our duty.
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