God's Not Your Maid

Are we just picking and choosing what part of God's commandments we want to obey? Are we trying to craft God and His word into our own design? I'm telling you now, it's not going to work. If you claim the name of Jesus Christ, then you are responsible for obeying all of His commands that you are aware of. Look around you, now is no time for lukewarm Christianity. It's time for believers to step up to the frontlines and stop messing around.

Stop thinking that you know what is best, because the only place to find what is best is God's word. Stop believing that you're better than everybody else, because you're not. Stop thinking that you are not cutout for a relationship with God, because you are. God is not your vending machine, He's not your maid, and He's not an ideal. God is real. God is now. God is at the door. Are your actions righteous in His eyes? Not your own eyes-- His eyes. "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits." Prov. 16:2 There's only one real brand of Christianity, and it's God's, not yours, not your church's.

God will judge. He is mighty, He is just. Do not think that God is sitting by turning a blind eye to your life as you live the way you want to and disregard what He has asked of you. You are storing up judgment against yourself if you think you can sin and maintain a relationship with God at the same time. Forsake sin. Hate it for the disease that it is and the harm it has caused to this world and let Jesus Christ heal you from it. He came to call the sinners to repentance! Repentant now if you have un-confessed sin in your heart and see the work that God is waiting to do in your life. "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." Psalm 7:11

Are you willing to be broken for God? Because until you break the seed that is within you cannot take root in the soil of Truth. It cannot go forth and sprout more fruit for His kingdom. LET GO of YOU. God wants to fulfill your life, He wants to wildly bless you, but if you're hung up on your own stubborn ideals those blessings will never come. If you don't know where to start, ask Him to guide you and look into His word. "And whosoever shall fall on this stone (Jesus Christ) shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Matt. 21:44

Do not forsake love. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matt. 22:37-40

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Gal. 5:14-15

All the stubborn faith in the world won't do you any good if you fail to love God through your obedience (Jn. 14:15) and if you fail to love your fellow man. What does it mean to love? To put others' needs ahead of your own. Selfishness says, "Me, me, me!" Love says, "Not me, but you."

You can speak a thousand different languages, heavenly or earthly, but if you are not behaving in love, you're just making a lot of noise without any real purpose.

You can prophecy over hundreds, you can understand things that many others do not, you can have all the intelligence in the world, you can have faith strong enough to uproot and mountain and move it somewhere else-- but if you're not fulfilling the simple act of LOVING, YOU ARE NOTHING.

You can empty your entire house and give it all to the starving and impoverished of the world, you can throw your body into a fire for some great cause, but if LOVE is not the drive that is motivating you to do so, then it profits you nothing.

Love suffers for a long time, it doesn't get up and walk away when things get hard, or when God himself seems to have abandoned us (of course, He will not).

Love has a mild disposition. Even in correction, love treats others with kindness.

Love does not jealously strive with a bitter heart to achieve the success of others, or to satisfy self.

Love does not put itself on a pedestal and say, "All hail me!" Love puts itself at the bottom, giving to others, as Jesus did.

Love cannot be prideful.

Love does not flaunt sinful behavior.

Love does not seek to satisfy itself, but to satisfy God and then others.

Love does not lash out in anger on any little whim, even when provoked.

Love does not think evil of others nor wish it upon them.

Love does not find joy in sinfulness, but in truth.

Love will bear everything that life throws at it, it will even wrap itself around what is precious to protect it from harm. Love believes all truth it is presented with. Love holds onto hope. Love bravely and calmly endures all hardships.

If you behave in this way, your life will never fail to have purpose, and you cannot fail, for you are operating as God has asked you to.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor. 13:13

Yes, I just made a major paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13, but I wanted to present the words in a less common way, based on the Greek text behind the writing and my own understanding of scripture. Of course you could go pick the chapter apart and reword everything differently than I did, and probably do a better job, but I just wanted to get people thinking. We need to stop and think about what God is really asking of us. Meditate on His word and search it out. You don't have to go out and do something that looks mighty in other people's eyes in order to please God, you simply have to be a good steward of what you have and where you are at right now. Let hardships and trials stir your spirit to a new level of commitment to God. If you fall, get up, get up, and get up! Start living for God right now and never stop. If you have to make the choice every second of every day, then do it. Further His kingdom, not your own kingdom. Prosper His truth, not your ideals. He has done so much more for us than we can ever do for Him, and He wants to do more. Don't think that surrender means surrendering joy; indeed, it is just the beginning of your joy.

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Eph. 6:13

Stand in righteousness.

In Christ,
ARose