Wednesday, May 11, 2022
A Reasonable Response
“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NKJV).
Some people imagine the God of the Old Testament as harsh and mean, while the God of the New Testament is loving and kind. But that is nonsense. There is only one God of both the Old and New Testaments, and He is a God of love.
He is a God who is gracious and a God who is full of mercy. But He is also a holy God and a righteous God. And He gives us absolutes to live by.
We find those absolutes in the Ten Commandments. And when God gave these commandments to the people of Israel, He also gave the motive for keeping them: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery” (Exodus 20:2 NLT).
Notice the Lord didn’t begin by threatening or scaring them. He started by reminding them of what kind of God He is: a loving, caring God who delivered them from their misery.
God was saying, loosely paraphrased, “Hey, I took care of you guys. I delivered you from your bondage in Egypt. You were a slave there.”
We might think, “Well, that’s nice, but I’m not an Israelite who was delivered from bondage in Egypt.”
Yes, that’s true, but if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, then you were a sinner who was delivered from the bondage of your sin, were you not?
Think about all that God has done for you. Because of that, you should want to reciprocate. You should want to honor Him in the way that you live. The apostle John reminds us, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NKJV).
He has certain expectations of us. Our love for God should be a response to His love for us.
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