“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”** John 15:9-14 (NIV)**
God not only desires for us to know His will through His Word but also to do it. Head knowledge of Scripture alone puffs up we are told - but in knowing and doing God’s Word we are most blessed indeed and are preparing ourselves for the greater good. Who wouldn’t desire that? We so often think we know the best way for our lives yet we see so unclearly, Amen? Newton writes: “We judge things by their present appearance; but the Lord sees them in their consequences. If we could do the same we would be perfectly of His mind; but since we can’t, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is regarded as one of His heaviest judgments when He gives any person up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk according to their own wisdom.” His desire is for us to stand firm in all His will, mature and fully assured – and His will is found in His Word.
So often in life we do not stop to consider if the path we are presently taking will bring us where we really want to go. It is wise for us to consider the outcome of our actions – our practices, our habits and our spiritual disciplines - as there are consequences (good or bad) in everything we do or do not do. Psalms One stresses the centrality of the law of God’s Word for fulfillment in life – for all of life. It states: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalms One 1-3 (NIV). Contrast this to Satan who desires to rob us of all this as John 10:10 (NIV) states: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Communion with Christ and obedience to His revealed will in His Word results in a faithful, fruitful and beautiful life for the Lord. And our joy will be complete. Is the path we are presently on taking us where we want to go – follow everything out to the end before embracing – we are to give much thought to our ways. Grow deeper through the Scriptures as it is His Word to us – alive, active and sharper than any double-edged sword. It is to be our guide for all of life. God desires for us to search and apply the Scriptures - through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit as that is taking hold of the life that is truly life and one without regrets.
“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:19-26 (NIV)