The Message

The Bible is a message of grace, mercy, hope, and eternal life offered to Mankind because of the love God had toward His children.  The right response of Man to such self-giving love is to love the LORD our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. (Matthew 22:37) and obey His commandments. God longs for our love and obedience, prompted by that love.  Whenever I think of the Message of the Bible, I can only think of two things – love God and obey God!  Love for God shows our faith and obedience to His Word shows that faith in action!  In my mind, all other commandments are contained within this.

As I was reading the book of Ecclesiastes, the wisdom of Solomon caught my attention. Solomon had enjoyed all that life had to offer and finally concluded that it was worth obeying God!  In the book of Proverbs, Solomon defined the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7), and in the book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl 12:13-14 ),  he says it is the conclusion of the whole matter.  This fear of God does not mean to be afraid of God. It means to have reverence, awe, and wonder in response to His glory.  In Ecclesiastes, Solomon gives two reasons for arriving at his conclusion.  He says it is the whole duty of man, and  God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thought!  Wherever the fear of God is uppermost in our hearts, there will be respect for His commandments, and we will be careful to obey them.  We pretend to fear God if we do not make a conscious effort to obey His commandments! 

We are not saved based on our good deeds, but our good deeds necessarily show the validity of our faith (James 2: 18-26).  We always want to please the one we love, and we do not want to hurt them.  It is the same attitude that saved Joseph from Potiphar's wife. Joseph said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen 39:9).  If we truly love God, we will abstain from every sin for every act of disobedience saddens the heart of God!

My friend, to be a believer, is to fear God and keep His commandments!  Let our prayer today be, " Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; …  Lead me in the land of uprightness." (Psalm 143:10)

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