Day 144 "Lead By God's Love"

A skilled rider needs only to put a little pressure on the bit in a horse's mouth to control the horse's movements. Similarly, a Christian, one who is lead by God's love, needs little prompting from the law, rules, or regulations to control his or her behavior.

The current church seems to be so up in arms about the concept of living by God's grace, living by God's grace alone. The fear is, if the congregants of the church were to catch wind of this freedom to live their lives believing that there is no condemnation from God that awaits them through Christ, what's to stop them from going out and living a life of reckless reprobation? Surely, rules and regulations by the church need to be kept in place to keep and maintain a moral grip on its members. Herein lies the problem. Rather than encouraging its people to live a life honoring and being grateful for what God has already done for them, the church maintains its position that our behavior modification is needed to please God in order to gain something favorable-like His blessings-or worse, prevent us from losing his blessings to even the possibility of incurring His wrath. This viewpoint speaks volumes towards the "worth ethic" or "performance driven" mentality of the believer: the need to pray more, spend more time in quiet time, witness to more people, take responsibility for converting more people into Christians, do good deeds for others, tithe, attend church faithfully, and give a life away towards service for others. If our circumstances change for the worse, surely we must be doing something wrong in God's eye. At the root of this movement is the feeling that one "needs to" do something in order to achieve something else, all of which is grounded and perpetuated by fear.

God's grace was never intended to be the end withal for our lives. If one grasps at the fraying strands of this concept, holding on to grace like a "get out of jail (Hell) free" card, one will experience a great deal of frustration traveling through this life and truly miss the very reason that Jesus came to die on the cross. So many believers believe that Jesus came to redeem them from going to Hell. No wonder believers stop growing in their faith with God only believing that Jesus' died to redeem them from Hell! Yep, Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Got that covered, now. Made my decision to accept Christ. Okay, time to get on with the rest of my life and focus on my wants and desires.

On the other hand, what if the primary purpose for Jesus to die was to reconcile us into an intimate relationship with our creator, God himself? Now, that the focus isn't on Hell prevention, which was only necessitated by our rebellious and sinful nature in the first place, we can continue onward into having a living relationship with God while we travel through this lifetime. Grace was intended to be God's calling card to woo us to his love, his unconditional and accepting love. Once there, it is God's plan that all of us would continue to walk with him and to trust him, not because we have to, but we want to. We want to spend time with those that we love. The more we get to know God, the greater becomes our love for him. I am glad that I have a lifetime to spend getting to know God better.

Think about it for a moment or two. What would you not do for those that you love? What negative things would you not do towards them for the same reason? When our lives are motivated and inspired by nothing more than God's love, I contend that there need be no other motivation needed to guide the moral bit of our behavior. The "need to" do something will be over forever. Jesus paid the ransom for that to be. Now, welcome in a new way of living, the desire of "wanting to" do something when you no longer have to do it. Since God's word clearly indicates there is no condemnation for the believer in Christ, we have been set free to live life under a whole different mindset. One of love, and not of fear! Once you understand this for your life, why would you ever want to go back to the old way again?

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ." Romans 8:1

"Perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18

"Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus

our Lord." Romans 8:39

"Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who

believes." Romans 10:4

"love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:10

"In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Ephesians 3:12

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"you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

1 Corinthians 6:20

"The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry,“Abba,Father.” Romans 8:15

There was a great price that was paid for our freedom. How shall we respond?

In his love, see you tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)