Word@Work 005 - Mark 1:11
Published: Fri, 11/16/07
Word@Work from BeaconLight
Read Mark 1:11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." (NIV)
Love is still the most prized commodity on earth. Some say that God loves everyone, so everything is all right - but is it? In these sentimental days, it is important to understand that the 'love of God' and the 'pleasure of God' are different. Let's take a moment to think it through ...
God does not do loving things just because He wants to be nice, or as a strategy to get people to like Him. He loves because that is His nature. It is therefore natural for God to tell people that He loves them, because He does! He cannot be false to His nature. So when Jesus heard that His Father loved Him, God was expressing His essential character, because God IS love!
Unlike us fickle humans, God's love cannot vary in quantity or quality. Nothing we can do will make God love us any more or any less. Put like that, do you think that God loves you any less than He loves Jesus? The answer to that question also applies to the best of your friends and the worst of your enemies.
What does vary is the pleasure that God derives from us. God is pleased with our obedience and grieved by our disobedience (note that the extent of God's pleasure with us, is the measure of our true fellowship with Him). Because nothing delights God more than our loving obedience, He will keep on acting in such a way as to grab our attention to bring us back to the place of obedience - where we can appreciate His pleasure. That is the most loving thing He can do, because His will is always for our highest good, as well as His glory.
Jesus was obedient in coming to earth to die for the sins of the world and God the Father was very pleased with Him. Jesus said that if we loved Him we would keep His commandments - and that applies as much to our workdays as our Sundays. If the working world understands that loyalty and obedience should be rewarded, why should Christians forget?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me without any limits. Help me to serve You in obedience today without putting any limits on my response to Your love. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
You can read more of this Bible passage online - in English and other languages - share the Bible with your friends!
Love is still the most prized commodity on earth. Some say that God loves everyone, so everything is all right - but is it? In these sentimental days, it is important to understand that the 'love of God' and the 'pleasure of God' are different. Let's take a moment to think it through ...
God does not do loving things just because He wants to be nice, or as a strategy to get people to like Him. He loves because that is His nature. It is therefore natural for God to tell people that He loves them, because He does! He cannot be false to His nature. So when Jesus heard that His Father loved Him, God was expressing His essential character, because God IS love!
Unlike us fickle humans, God's love cannot vary in quantity or quality. Nothing we can do will make God love us any more or any less. Put like that, do you think that God loves you any less than He loves Jesus? The answer to that question also applies to the best of your friends and the worst of your enemies.
What does vary is the pleasure that God derives from us. God is pleased with our obedience and grieved by our disobedience (note that the extent of God's pleasure with us, is the measure of our true fellowship with Him). Because nothing delights God more than our loving obedience, He will keep on acting in such a way as to grab our attention to bring us back to the place of obedience - where we can appreciate His pleasure. That is the most loving thing He can do, because His will is always for our highest good, as well as His glory.
Jesus was obedient in coming to earth to die for the sins of the world and God the Father was very pleased with Him. Jesus said that if we loved Him we would keep His commandments - and that applies as much to our workdays as our Sundays. If the working world understands that loyalty and obedience should be rewarded, why should Christians forget?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me without any limits. Help me to serve You in obedience today without putting any limits on my response to Your love. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
You can read more of this Bible passage online - in English and other languages - share the Bible with your friends!
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