Scripture: 1 John 5:1-4 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Devotional: This week, we have taken a look at how God has called us to live. And as I have written these devotionals and reflected on them, I realized how daunting some of this may seem. There are things we are called to do, there are things we are called to share, and then there are things that we need to make sure we are giving to God so that He can make us more like Him.
But I am also reminded, like it says in our passage of Scripture for today, that His commands are not burdensome. We show that we love God when we keep His commands. This does not mean we will do it perfectly, which is why God sent Jesus on our behalf. But it is a joy and an honor to live our lives for Him every single day.
Having this heart posture, a posture of submitting to Him as Lord and viewing it as a privilege to live for Him each day, will help us to look more and more like Jesus. We will desire to be in the Word of God more, and we will know His commands. We will be more in tune with how the Spirit is moving in our lives and around the world. We will be able to see how God is at work all around us. And when each of these things is happening, it is much easier for us to help others see when they are compromising in these areas in their lives. No one is perfect, and it does not take living a perfect life to confront someone. However, pursuing Christ first and recognizing the sanctification that needs to happen in your own life on an ongoing basis is important groundwork for it.
Jesus encourages the people at the churches of Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis to confront one another and not be soft when people compromise. To do that, we need to look at the log in our own eye first. When we live a life where we use our spiritual gifts to benefit the body of Christ, repent and turn from a life of sin, allow the Spirit to do His work in us, and share the Gospel, we are much less likely to allow compromise into our own lives. We can confront people, in both truth and love, and not worry about being hypocritical. We can live lives of integrity that allow us to point other people back to the truth of who God is and how He has called us to live. And what a joy that is.
Reflect:
- Are you living a life of integrity where you would feel comfortable confronting someone if they are living a life of compromise?
- If so, what are some things you are doing that are helping you? If not, what are some changes that you need to make in order to get there?