Why should we not care?

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

I John 2:29 ESV

We will know them by their fruit.

If we know a person who claims to be a follower of Jesus, you expect them to act differently – different from the world, the pagan.

Ask any atheist if we should follow God’s laws, he will say, “H#@* no!”

Then why spend our energy defending the idea that God’s laws were abolished or that they should be ignored? We can do His will. We can serve Him in this way. Here it is called practicing righteousness.

I used to think if I followed the laws (His Torah) that I was being like a pharisee. Since the Pharisees (many of them) were evil, I don’t want anything to do with that.

Listen, God is Not the author of evil. He is not the author of lies. He asks us to follow Jesus’ example, to follow His word. His Torah can transform out thoughts. But we have to relax our hard line against it as a body of Messiah.

We must know and make known that Messiah is our sacrifice. However, we must acknowledge His gift of Torah and Holy Ruach (breath) to guide our actions. This is our reasonable service. Our righteous deeds are evidence of our righteous new birth.

The one who does what is right (righteousness) is born of Him. The ones who seem to do otherwise, we can’t be so sure. We cannot bet our PBJ sandwich on the man who shuns God’s laws.

Clean your Temple.

Yes, as sinners, we can repent and be saved. But we must cleanse our Temple. Our bodies are that special place of God’s presence. Use the water of His word to wash and purify. Yes, it takes effort. It takes some work. We can’t save ourselves with works, but we can use real endeavors to do His will.

Speak it and live it at the same time.

The concept of literally making our disobedience an actual method of serving God sounds ludicrous. However, we often obey with our actions, yet speak against God’s holy Torah. I simply say, let’s be consistent and read further than our misrepresented scripture support for lawlessness.

In every role, we are expected to do the work.

As many of us are employed, we submit to our boss’s authority. Think of our Christian (Christ-like) life as our job, I’d you will. Think of our role as followers as one that has built in responsibilities. At work, as I am offered a duty such as the production of a short video, I wouldn’t look at my boss and say “nope.” I wouldn’t explain that it would be legalism to comply and it is best to reject the request. From cover to cover, God asks for us to do our duties and make the world a better place.

Prayer:

Father, your awesome will be done. May my life align with your will and your Kingdom. May I not bring shame to your throne. I thank you for your special grace to learn as I live. Thank you for your patience with me. Help me to understand the hard sayings of your scripture. If there are personal constructs that are getting in my way, please sanctify my mind to the mind of Messiah. May I live your Torah for my life. May I work to cleanse my way more each day. Amen.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

I John 3:3