Taking God seriously is the most effective precaution we can take against sin. If we love God unselfishly, we’ll hold His honor more dear than our own, and that sense of honor will protect us from doing anything that would detract from His glory.
We should let ourselves be drawn into concerns more vast and “moving” than the mere rise and fall of our own happiness. To a great extent, this is what growth toward spiritual maturity is about. It is learning to live by the strong laws of love.
“The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy” (Dallas Willard).
Doing the right thing, based on proven principles and regardless of momentary circumstance, is the essence of character, integrity, and honor. The ability to make such a choice is an important part of the image of God in which we were created.
If we sought God with a loyalty that He could count on — a faithful love that would hold us at His side — what strength He would impart to us! Our greatest need is for fidelity, the honor that holds steadfastly to all the truth we know of God.
God’s perfect knowledge of us is both comforting and sobering. He is not only infinitely wise but infinitely good. He will always do what is right. And the wonder of all wonders is that, knowing us as He does, He is willing for us to know Him.
Jesus knew those who needed a sedative and those who needed a stimulant. For our part, do we understand the gospel’s provision for both needs? And do we have the honesty to see in which direction our own needs are the greatest at any given moment?
If we will accept the Great Physician’s diagnosis, healing will be given according to our need. God’s are as varied as the people He has created. It was He who gave each of us our own attributes, and it is He who can restore what each of us has lost.
Is the stupendous glory of God’s creation lost on us? Do we not have eyes to see? Are we not paying attention? If not, it’s imperative that we rise above the little worries of our lives. We must allow ourselves to be moved by the majesty of our God.
Because we need to know more of God than we can know with our present limitations, we need to have greater minds and hearts. The ability to know God more fully and glorify Him more properly is the noblest goal to which our intellect can aspire.
