When Jesus commands us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48), this simply shows that God’s own absolute moral purity is the standard toward which we are to aim and the standard for which God holds us accountable. The fact that we are unable to attain that standard does not mean that it will be lowered; rather, it means that we need God’s grace and forgiveness to overcome our remaining sin. Similarly, when Paul commands the Corinthians to make holiness perfect in the fear of the Lord (2 Cor. 7:1), or prays that God would sanctify the Thessalonians wholly (1 Thess. 5:23), he is pointing to the goal that he desires them to reach. He does not imply that any reach it, but only that this is the high moral standard toward which God wants all believers to aspire.
Wayne Grudem

Groups

Forum Navigation
You need to log in to create posts and topics.

Word for Today, Mon, 05 Ju1 2004: Our Greatest Motivation

Avatar
Forum Archives
1,536 Posts
#1 · July 5, 2004, 1:23 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Word for Today, Mon, 05 July 2004: Our Greatest Motivation
Dear friends,

I love God deeply and I have come to appreciate all that He has
done for me personally. This article describes my feelings and
motivations well.

Yours in Christ,
Brian

____________________________________________________________

July 5

OUR GREATEST MOTIVATION

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools
despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).

To worship God is to acknowledge His divine attributes. He
doesn't need us to tell Him who He is. We need to keep our minds
renewed to the reality of His presence. Notice how this is
brought out in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11: "Therefore also we have as
our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that
each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according
to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore knowing the
fear of the Lord, we persuade men."

Realizing that God knows the thoughts and intentions of our
hearts, we should be motivated to live our lives to please Him.
Someday we're going to stand before Him and give an account. The
judgment that Paul is talking about in this passage is not for
punishment, but for rewards. We don't fear God because of the
possibility of punishment: "There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment,
and the one who fears is not perfected in love" (l John 4:18).
We have already been judged as to where we will spend eternity.
But how we spend eternity depends on how we respond to God in
this lifetime.

I personally don't want to limp into heaven and have Him say,
"Well, okay, come on in." I want to stand before God someday and
hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into
the joy of your Lord." That's the greatest motivation in my
life. As a child I didn't fear the spanking of my father nearly
as much as I feared being accountable to him and facing his
disappointment.

I'm not disappointed with God and I sure don't want Him
disappointed with me.

Lord, may the reality of my eternal salvation motivate me to
wholehearted, grateful obedience today.

Copyright 2004 - Freedom in Christ - Taken from "Daily in
Christ" by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Click for thumbs down.0Click for thumbs up.0