We've all heard the statement, "Christianity is a relationship, not a religion".
But what does that mean?
It appears as if Christians have a set of standards that they seek to abide by just like all the other Religions... So, what is this RELATIONSHIP claim all about?
First, we should not overlook the preparation God has placed within human existence for the purpose of drawing and helping us to understand. He made male and female, able to unite and bear offspring. Through this we know about husband, wife, child, and how they interact within a family unit.
God's role for the husband is to provide and protect the family, the wife conforms and nurtures the family, and the children are to grow in knowledge and stature. Each participant of the family is designed and equipped to fulfill their role in producing a healthy family unit, from which we are to gain understanding... to understand the BIG PICTURE.
God arranged the structure of human existence so that we can grasp concepts such as father, son, bride, wedding, family, adoption.
Understanding Indwelling
Question #1
How much is ALL?
This will be a multiple-choice question: 75% / 80% / 95% / 99.9% / 100% ?
Question #2
Did Jesus live a perfect life by being obedient to ALL God's Law?
Hint: Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." - Matthew 5:17-18
Question #3
Did Jesus keep the Greatest Commandment? "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself". - Mark 12:30
Question #4
Where did Jesus direct and focus His greatest love?
Hint: Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his own life for the sake of his friends." - John 15:13
Are you starting to see a dichotomy between the Greatest Commandment and the New Commandment, between "Loving God with all of yourself" and doing what Jesus did and commanded His followers to do... "Loving one another with our greatest love"?
Or are we simply overlooking an Amazing Truth?
Question #5
How exactly did Jesus keep the Greatest Command of loving God 100% while He was loving us with His entire life?
The correct answer is, BINGO!!!
When Jesus stopped Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road, He asked, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" - Acts 9:1-4
At this moment, Saul was on a mission to retrieve anyone found to be Christian and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains to be imprisoned, tortured, and some put to death.
Are we to take Jesus's statement as abstract or as literal?
As a sentimental platitude or as a profound reality?
How did Jesus love God with all He had while loving us with His greatest love?
Why did Jesus command us to love one another, when all God's laws derive from "loving God with all that we have"?
HINT : Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you." - John 14:18-20
The Bible also gives us a glimpse into the future, when all of humanity stands before the King of Kings.
Each person who has ever existed standing in one of only two groups...
To one group He proclaims, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me."
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?
And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me." - Matthew 25:31-40
Contemplate on what Jesus just said, then look at the actions He just lauded. What prevailing attribute would account for such actions?
Pure sacrificial LOVE, these people loved.
First of all, where did they get the food, drink, shelter, clothing? Where did they acquire the ability to breathe, walk, speak, and share?
ALL from God to them... LOVE.
And with His love, they loved others. "We love because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:19
LOVE is not a mere sentiment or platitude; it is a motivation made real (actualized) by action. And the ACTION for which pure love emanates is SACRIFICE, taking what you have and meeting the needs of another.
The very reason Scripture tells us that "God is love" is precisely because...
"For in Him we live and move and have our being" - Acts 17:28
"What do you have that you did not receive?" - 1 Corinthians 4:7.
God gave of Himself, God provided ALL... from His power and authority.
Love is our sustenance, proceeding from its source... God.
God meets our needs, and Jesus met our greatest need... eternal redemption for our souls.
"By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." - 1 John 3:16
Understanding : "Laying down your life"
It is often said and preached that this means, "the potential of giving your life".
Think of those in the military or first responders, each and every day they face the possibility of giving their physical life for others. Think of the man or woman who would not hesitate to risk their life for the sake of a child or spouse. But these are examples of the ultimate expression of what Jesus is telling us to do daily.
Laying down your life means that when you receive God's love and provision, we are not to embellish our own lives with it. We are to follow the example of Jesus who lived this lifestyle; we take our "daily bread" to maintain our ability to serve, then use the rest to love one another, as He loved us. Instead of prioritizing self, we lay down (deny) self. Not only the fleeting pleasures of overt sin, but also the fleeting pleasures of pursuing my happiness through improving my standard of living, my comfort, and my experiences.
True JOY is not found in "me, my, or mine", it only comes through loving others in NEED.
True JOY is found in laying down your life and SERVING others.
It is then that we see God loving us (faithfully providing as promised) more abundantly than we can disperse to others.
Disciples (students) of Christ align their life with the Greatest Command by pursuing obedience to the New Command... we love God by loving others, in whom He resides.
Three times Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Do you love Me?", and responded to his affirmation by saying, "Then feed My sheep."
How much more obvious could Jesus have connected the DOTS for Peter, and for us?
Tending to and feeding His sheep equates to, and is how to, Love HIM.
Instantly we think of "laying down your life" as Jesus on the cross. YET, why not also "in the manger" or "coming to serve" or "washing feet" or "ministering to others"?
We must love God like Jesus did, by loving God through loving others.
How else can we "love" a God who needs absolutely NOTHING from us?
By bringing God a bouquet of flowers (which He made)?
By burning an OX (which He made and gave life to) on the alter?
By only Praising, Singing, and Worshiping?
"Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better that sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams." - 1 Samuel 15:22
"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." - Hosea 6:6
"These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me..." - Isaiah 29:13
We love God through loving others, by meeting their NEEDS with what God has given us.
Jesus said, "If you love Me, then keep My commands" and "A new command I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, you also love one another". - John 14:15 / John 13:34
CHRISTIANITY is not following a set of rules (Do's and Don'ts) as is with every other RELIGION.
Being a faithful disciple of Christ is faithful (and total) reliance on Him.
"I AM the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." - John 15:5
Being a faithful disciple of Christ is communion with the indwelling Spirit of God, as He leads.
"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." - Romans 8:14
Being a faithful disciple of Christ is ceasing to Love this World.
"Do not love this world or the things in this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." - 1 John 2:15
Being a faithful disciple of Christ is to understand, accept, and follow a NEW way of Living.
"To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." - Colossians 1:27
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