The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. We are blessed with abundance and receive His uninterrupted daily mercies. All that we have, all that we are, all that we will ever be; what is there, that we have, presently or in the morrow, that was not first given or ordained for us; starting with our very next breath!
Granted the given, we should not find the above commandment difficult to reciprocate. On the contrary, it would be indeed arduous to dispute or ignore His goodness and His goodwill. Yet being on this side of heaven, we are prone to grapple the gifts, more than we would regard the Giver. We will continue to struggle and wrestle with the commandment.
There are many good and right gifts. Some, would go on to so engross our attention, till our vision gets blurred, our hearts dulled, our souls submerged, and our strength sapped. We become so steamed and, like little children, are carried away in the torrent. Truthfully, we all have our pet indiscretions. The reality of ‘enjoying’ them, purportedly minor, cannot be dismissed. Not infrequently, we would ‘do’ these things because it suits us; it is not always that we have struggled hard, slipped and failed. It is more convenient, if not pleasurable, to yield and succumb. We pay a high price for our indulgences. We are deceived and separated from the One who laid down His life to redeem us. Whatever joy, happiness, fulfillment or success derived, cannot profit us in this brevity; what more, if we would know, that it offends Him.
We would confess that it is sin that separates us from Him. We know how irreconcilable sin is to His character. We weekly remember the price, He had to pay, to heal us of sin. But still, and in our weakness, we practice idolatry and hurt Him. Of themselves, many of the idols, may be very good and very right, but idolatry is sin. The best of good things are not necessarily unselfish. The best of gifts can be distorted. We are often blinded to the fact that they are, in finality, only gifts. They were never meant to be the ends. How oft we forget, the purpose for these gifting.
Consider, the ambitions we dedicate ourselves to, being mindful of those things that will have to be left behind; ‘naked I entered this world, naked I will depart’. It would be ironic, if not sad, to learn, that as astute as we would imagine ourselves to be, we have embraced folly with colossal loss. Contemporary thought exhorts, and advertises, the virtues of self-fulfillment, self-actualization, of ‘me-first’; Nike’s clarion to ‘Go for it’ sounds innocuously encouraging and is representative. With retrospect deliberation, we will surmise that these pursuits are truly incompatible with ‘denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following Him’? Cherishing the world detracts us from the glory of His Kingdom. To say that we would love the LORD and continue in sin is an impossible position to negotiate.
Love is said to be a choice, we were called to make.
Granted the given, we should not find the above commandment difficult to reciprocate. On the contrary, it would be indeed arduous to dispute or ignore His goodness and His goodwill. Yet being on this side of heaven, we are prone to grapple the gifts, more than we would regard the Giver. We will continue to struggle and wrestle with the commandment.
There are many good and right gifts. Some, would go on to so engross our attention, till our vision gets blurred, our hearts dulled, our souls submerged, and our strength sapped. We become so steamed and, like little children, are carried away in the torrent. Truthfully, we all have our pet indiscretions. The reality of ‘enjoying’ them, purportedly minor, cannot be dismissed. Not infrequently, we would ‘do’ these things because it suits us; it is not always that we have struggled hard, slipped and failed. It is more convenient, if not pleasurable, to yield and succumb. We pay a high price for our indulgences. We are deceived and separated from the One who laid down His life to redeem us. Whatever joy, happiness, fulfillment or success derived, cannot profit us in this brevity; what more, if we would know, that it offends Him.
We would confess that it is sin that separates us from Him. We know how irreconcilable sin is to His character. We weekly remember the price, He had to pay, to heal us of sin. But still, and in our weakness, we practice idolatry and hurt Him. Of themselves, many of the idols, may be very good and very right, but idolatry is sin. The best of good things are not necessarily unselfish. The best of gifts can be distorted. We are often blinded to the fact that they are, in finality, only gifts. They were never meant to be the ends. How oft we forget, the purpose for these gifting.
Consider, the ambitions we dedicate ourselves to, being mindful of those things that will have to be left behind; ‘naked I entered this world, naked I will depart’. It would be ironic, if not sad, to learn, that as astute as we would imagine ourselves to be, we have embraced folly with colossal loss. Contemporary thought exhorts, and advertises, the virtues of self-fulfillment, self-actualization, of ‘me-first’; Nike’s clarion to ‘Go for it’ sounds innocuously encouraging and is representative. With retrospect deliberation, we will surmise that these pursuits are truly incompatible with ‘denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following Him’? Cherishing the world detracts us from the glory of His Kingdom. To say that we would love the LORD and continue in sin is an impossible position to negotiate.
Love is said to be a choice, we were called to make.
"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Jos 24:14-15)
May we keep our eyes on Him, who loved us, and gave Himself for us. May we be faithful in keeping His command; to love Him with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our strength, and with all our minds. And our neighbor, as ourselves. Amen.
God bless.
/ckh
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