In assessing our character, all anyone ever needs to know is the answer to this question: how deep is our love for our Creator? When that question has been answered accurately, the very root of our personal being will have been discovered.
We must not only desire to know the truth; we must actually intend to obey it. If we’re honestly looking for information that will help us improve our own obedience, then we have God’s assurance that we’ll get the information we need.
We can improve our ability to discern the Lord’s will, and if we’re at all serious about seeking God, then we’ll surely set that as a high priority. Indeed, the only higher priority would be improving our doing of the Lord’s will after we discern it!
“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,'” Jesus asked, “and do not do the things which I say?” There is more to Christianity than simply listing it as our religious preference. Jesus Christ is not really our Lord if we don’t do the things He says.
Neglect is responsible for some of the most awful suffering in the human race. The damage that is done by simply failing to act may grow so slowly that we don’t see it increasing, but in the end, the cumulative effect is devastating.
The law of sowing and reaping applies to us. The same laws that have always governed the universe will govern the declaration of our final destiny. There is no successful way to defy these laws. Not even God Himself is at liberty to set them aside.
If we don’t summon the courage to reject the opposite of life, then life in Christ cannot be ours. Like all other good things, the joys of life in God are the consequences of having a character that is not afraid to make big sacrifices.
The truth about God is not so hard to understand that it is beyond our reach. If we forfeit the privilege of seeing God someday, it will not be for a lack of ability or opportunity. It will be for a failure to make life’s basic choice.
While obviously sorrowful, the remembrance of our sins is a necessary part of our humility, gratitude, and even our joy. “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Joy and sorrow are inseparable” (Kahlil Gibran).
We should adopt real reverence toward God and commit ourselves to carrying out His instructions. “Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about.” Compared to this priority, nothing else even tips the scale. This is our all, our everything.
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