Have you ever thought about what Jesus Christ wants from you? I think that is a very good question to ask, because we are the representation of Jesus Christ. What does it mean to be a Christian? What sets us apart from the rest of the world?
It says in Romans 10:9 "If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." But than what? Is that all it means to be a Christ follower? I believe that is all that people think, hey I declared He is Lord, I believed in my heart and that is all it is, but what does Jesus say? In Matthew 22:37 "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.'" And then in John 14:15 Jesus says to us "If you love me, keep my commands" If we love Him, like He calls us to do, we will keep His commands.
We must be willing to put God first, if you love Me, you will keep my commands. That is pretty straight forward, because when we love Jesus the most, it is no longer about I, but about Christ in me. We want to honor Him, we want to bring Him glory by our lives. We want to do the very thing He calls us to do, because He is the most important person to us, because He is number 1. I am sure you have heard many Christians say they love God, but in the very same breath the swear, they take the Lords name in vein, they want to fit in the crowd, they want to look good to others. But Jesus said to them, if you love Me, you will keep my commands. 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them." Do not love the world, that is pretty clear, but we are in this world, do you love yourself more than you love God. Are you more concerned about yourself, how you feel, then how God feels? That is love of the world.
We are a self driven society, it is all about me. No longer is it about the things of God. It is about what I want, where I want to go, who I want to be with, what makes me feel good. But Jesus is very clear when he said in John 14:15 "If you love me, keep my commands." In Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."
Question for you, are you putting Jesus 1st in your life or are you more worried about yourself? What is driving you today, is it Jesus's love or something totally different? Do your life state you a Christ follower or just like the world? Hard questions, but being a Christian means standing out from everyone else, it means being different, it means not doing what they do, but doing what Jesus calls us to do. The message is clear, in our marriages, in our relationships, in our work place and so on, is it about God or about you?
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