1John 4:8(NLT) tells us, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Our Heavenly Father has given us everything we need to know about Him in this one verse. He is love, and since we are His children, He has an expectation that we will aspire to be love as well. It was His good pleasure to create us from what He is. He gave us a part of Himself, which is Spirit. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to demonstrate for us step by step everything that God intends a human-being to be. Christ revealed what love is and how it behaves towards everything it influences. He has also revealed an amazing and fundamental attribute about this love. It causes things in our walk with him to happen on automatic pilot, and to increase in his love and blessings, this attribute must be present in our lives.
Order is the culture of heaven; this we know with certainty. Our Heavenly Father is a God of order. He is a Righteous Judge. What does this mean? Well, righteousness is the highest quality of goodness, truth, and honor. There is no greater morality than that of being righteous. It is a standard God has established, and the amazing thing for us to know is that He holds Himself to a greater standard of righteousness than any of us can fathom. His laws are perfect, and He will never do anything to violate them.
You and I couldn’t keep the standard of God’s righteousness. History has proven that we violate them as soon as we glean knowledge of what the law says. This is one of the reasons we need Jesus Christ so much. Violation of God’s laws meant that we couldn’t enjoy the kind of fellowship with Him that He desired to have with us; and we know from Romans 6:23 that the wages for sin is death. So, God made a way through His Son, Jesus Christ, to give us the righteousness we couldn’t achieve on our own. 2Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Through Christ, God has gifted righteousness to every born-again believer, but this isn’t the end of the story. Quite the contrary, it is the beginning of it. You and I have been given the extraordinary privilege to practice the gift. God has given us a gift that places us on the same level of righteousness as Jesus Christ, because 2Corinthians 5:21 says we are the righteousness of God because of Christ. This begs us to ask ourselves why did God give us such an extraordinary gift? He gave us this gift of righteousness so we would use it!
Any person that has been blessed to receive something so highly valued that it cannot be measured has an obligation to be thankful for it. The way that you and I demonstrate our thankfulness to God for the gift of the righteousness of Christ is to practice it. God’s desire for us is expressed in Philippians 1:11 (NLT). It says, “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.” There ought to be some fruit produced from our commitment to practice this tremendous gift of righteousness, and so often this is absent in the life of the believer.
You and I don’t get to decide what fruit is pleasing to God or what fruit satisfies the requirement of our faith. He has told us this in His Word. He said that after we’ve passed from this life, the King will say to those on His right to come on in, for He’s prepared the Kingdom for us since the creation of the world. He’ll extend this invitation because when He was hungry, we fed Him; when He was thirsty, we gave Him a drink; when He was homeless, sick, and naked we provided care. Matthew 25:37-41(NLT) says, “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
We are the righteous ones that Matthew 25:37-41 speaks of, and if we’re not meeting the requirement that God has set forth in His Word, we need to start. The harvest is still great, and the laborers are still few. There is much work to do, and if you are unsure how the Lord desires you to bless others, James 1:5 says simply ask. He’ll reveal His heart to us if we are willing to do what He asks.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Are You Willing to Do What He Asks?”, written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.
