This is article #14 of Observations Gleaned from the Scriptures by JaneEllen.
Our God is awesome! He loves us all exactly the same. Because He is God and is in charge, He gives us rules and regulations. If we follow them, they make our lives better. He wants the best for us. I am not talking about our physical lives necessarily. I am talking primarily about our spiritual lives. Sometimes doing what God says will make our physical lives better and sometimes not. God is always concerned about us, but He is more concerned with our spiritual health than our physical health.
God wants us to love Him because of who He is and for what He has done for us. John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” God didn’t make us robots. He wants it to be our choice to love Him. We show our choice to love Him when we choose to keep His commandments; His rules and regulations. Being the just God that He is, He blesses us when we obey Him and He punishes us when we disobey Him. The blessings and punishments are the consequences of our choices to either keep or reject His rules and regulations.
The Old Testament is full of scenarios that help us understand God’s feelings about obedience and disobedience. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 is one set of these verses. I realize that these verses are about the children of Israel, but I want you to look at what God is saying to them. Knowing that our God never shows partiality, we know that what He said to the Israelites is true for us today. Please read these verses several times and let the character of God sink in. Due to space constraints, I will only quote verse 19 and part of 20:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore CHOOSE life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days…”[bolding mine for emphasis]
How do you know what God wants you to do?
Have you ever read the Bible? Are you reading the Bible consistently?
If not, how do you know if you are doing what God wants you to do?
How do you know you are making the right choices?
How do you know if you are choosing life or death?
Remember God treats us all the same (Romans 2:11). It is up to us to make good choices. Are you choosing blessings or punishment? It’s up to you.
Until next time, I remain with a song in my heart. JaneEllen