Desires of My Heart

 

“Everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.” (Exodus 35:21 [NIV])

We each know of or are a person who grudgingly did what someone asked. A parent would have asked you to clean your room and you delayed in obeying. With a threat of disciplining (the compulsion), you did the task. This unfortunate part of our nature shows itself because we chose to exercise the freewill God gave us by rebelling. In this instance, you rebelled against your parent because you chose to follow the desires of your natural heart. Any rebellion we do is against God since He created the moral laws from His own holiness. The opposite of a negative compulsion (disciplining by grounding, loss of privileges, etc.) is a positive compulsion. A positive compulsion comes from an inner calling to your spirit to obey because of love and/or respect for the person, the law, and God. A person often obeys this calling because of who compels him or her, his or her care for the one calling him or her, and the result or reward for obeying.

The Bible tells of compulsions, desires, impulses, heart-stirrings, and urgings within our hearts, minds, and spirits. We can note these from as early as Adam and Eve’s time in the Garden of Eden. First, they wanted to be with God and grow in their relationship with Him. Next, they learned of something more enticing to them than their relationship with God. The compelling and urging by the serpent led to their desire and choice to go against God’s commands. Adam and Eve’s freewill led them to choose self over God. This instance is not exclusive to this one passage. People rebel and sin against God like the Bible writers recorded throughout the Bible. They choose to follow the desires of their own heart intent on themselves. Other instances in the Bible show people respond to God’s urgings, compulsions, and impellings by following Him. Let’s consider a few of these instances and understand what they meant at the time and what they mean for us, identifying the  of what God urged, what action occurred, and what reward or result occurred for the person and/or people following God.

After the Israelites left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, they lingered at Mount Sinai. At this mountain, God instructed them through Moses. Moses spent much time with God on the mountain and received His plans on how to build His tabernacle. He told Moses of the fine wood, gold, silver, and linens He required for building His tabernacle. The Egyptians gave these things to the Israelites before they left Egypt (Exodus 3:22 & 12:35-36). What happened after Moses told the Israelites of God’s requirements is what we must notice. Moses recorded their actions in Exodus 35:20-35. He said in verses twenty through twenty-one,

Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. [NIV]

Three things happened in these verses. The Israelites recognized God. They responded to Him. Something happened. These three things we will call the impetus, action, and result. Through each of the Scripture passages we consider, we will look for these three things.

Exodus 35

In Exodus 35:20-21, the impetus for the Israelites’ action came from their hearts’ moving. In other translations, the passage says, “their hearts were stirred.” Notice the verb is passive. The Hebrew word from which this “stirring” comes means to be carried away by an external force to oneself. The Israelites did nothing to cause their hearts to stir. It occurred by God’s calling to them. As Moses relayed to the Israelites what God said He needed for the tabernacle to be built to His specifications, God’s desires moved the people’s hearts and as He called them. God moved their hearts. The people recognized God as divine and almighty. They knew He rescued them from slavery.

Their recollection of what He did for them and who He is caused a reaction to the impetus. The Israelites heard with their ears, their hearts, and their spirits. They responded to God’s love with their own love for Him shown through obedience. They responded by giving back to Him that which He gave to them-love and tangible items. Remember in Exodus 3:22 and 12:35-36, God told the Israelites through Moses to ask the Egyptians for gold, silver, and fine cloths. Back before these people understood why God gave them these fine things from the Egyptians, He had a plan for them. The Israelites did not yet understand God’s plan for them when they received the gifts from the Egyptians.  He provided what the Israelites needed for themselves and what they needed to give back to Him to build His tabernacle. God gave the impetus by stirring the hearts of the Israelites. The Israelites action occurred because they chose to bend their hearts toward God in love and obedience. They gave to Him what He requested to build the tabernacle.

Whenever calling by God and an action toward that calling occurs, a result in obedience to God takes place. The result for the Israelites was four-fold. Physically, God would continue to give what they needed for life; He would continue to bless them. Mentally, the Israelites acknowledged God as the One who provides and realized they could trust Him. Emotionally, they received God’s love and returned it to Him. They deepened their connection with Him. Spiritually, they recognized God as almighty and eternal, the God of their forefathers, the One who never left them. With this recognition, they responded with faith and trust in Him by loving Him in return and trusting Him to provide all things. Notice, each of these four parts of a life is intertwined with the others. One does not exist without the other on this plain.

To sum this passage up, the people recognized God and His call on their lives. They responded out of love because of His love and care by acting on His stirring their hearts by obeying His plans for building the tabernacle. The Israelites grew in their faith in God, in their relationship with Him, and proved their covenant with Him. The stirring of the Israelites’ hearts did not occur at their bidding, but at God’s Spirit. God was the force outside of them that stirred up their hearts to seek, recognize, acknowledge, and heed Him. People from neighboring nations watched the lives of the Israelites to see how their God worked among them. They sought, too. The Israelites answered God’s stirring of the hearts and brought Him glory.

As we continue to consider God’s stirring of people’s hearts, we must recognize He did this throughout the Bible. From Adam and Eve in Eden, to Moses at the burning bush, to Mary when God spoke to her, to the apostles, Paul, and other Christians, God stirred hearts, compelled, urged, entreated, and impelled them for His service.

1 Corinthians 9

In 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, we read part of Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. In verses sixteen through eighteen, Paul said,

¹⁶For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. [NIV]

In considering this passage, what or who compelled Paul? Notice, Paul said, “I am compelled.” He did not compel himself. God did. This word “compel” comes from a Greek word meaning necessitated from external conditions. God compelled Paul when He saved and called Him on the road to Damascus. God gave the impetus for Paul’s resulting actions. He placed it in Paul’s heart. Paul desired to seek, recognize, acknowledge, and obey Him out of love for Him.

What action did Paul say occurred because of God compelling Him? He said in verse sixteen God compelled him to preach. That preaching is not of what the people in the Greek world heard before, but of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like with the Israelites, God’s compulsion was specific. Out of love for Him and for people who did not trust in Jesus, God called Paul to preach the gospel. He recognized in this calling, this compulsion, a negative occurred if he did not preach the gospel. How do we learn this? Paul said at the end of verse sixteen, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” Not only did Paul recognize God and accede to His authority over his heart, spirit, and life, he realized consequences came from living contrary to God’s compulsion. When a person walks life contrary to God’s best plans and desires, he or she is rebelling against God. Many stories tell about rebellion against God and its consequences. Noah and his family remained the face of the earth after the great flood. Two of Aaron’s sons died for performing their daily services in the tabernacle in the wrong way. The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. Judas Iscariot died a sinner’s death for betraying Jesus. The stories of rebellion and their resultant consequences can be found throughout the Bible. Paul recognized God’s calling Him came with a warning for not complying. He did not want to experience that discipline.

We have knowledge of Paul’s life story. He accepted God’s compulsion to preach the gospel. What result came from his loving obedience to God? Paul’s preaching free of charge in obedience to God’s compulsion made him a voluntary slave submitted to God’s will. By submitting to God’s desire for his life, he aimed to tell as many people as possible about Jesus so they could become children of God – Jews and Gentiles, slave and free. He summarized this life of service to God and humanity with verses twenty-two and twenty-three, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” [NIV]

Paul ran to get the prize, he said (vs 24-27). For him, the goal of his life revolved around completing the race as an obedient child and servant of God. Paul’s reward of receiving the prize of being perfected in Christ’s image, being with Him in heaven, came only from God. This prize represents three motivations for Paul’s life. He obeyed out of love for God, out of love for others that Jesus put in him, and for God’s glory. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Paul’s goal and the result of His life’s obedience to God’s compelling and love for him was to give God glory. He recognized and acknowledged God’s call on his life as the impetus, the desire of God for him and accepted that desire as his own. Paul responded to this impetus from God with action by telling every person he met about the gospel. His action led to people receiving salvation through Jesus and God getting glory.

2 Corinthians 5

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 [NIV])

In these verses, just like in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul spoke of God compelling Him. This word “compelling” means urging, impelling, and compelling of the soul/spirit, heart, and mind. This compelling is an urging of one’s being to respond with action according to what is asked. What came with this urging that would make a person more favorable towards doing what the Spirit compelled? See at the beginning of verse fourteen-Christ’s love. Paul left no doubt in a person’s mind as to Who compelled him. He recognized the call of Christ on his heart because Jesus saved the Pharisee, the one who persecuted and killed Jesus-followers. Paul understood he did not deserve Jesus’ love.

Because of Jesus’ merciful love for a sinner like him, his response to Him could only be to love Him. Paul’s acknowledgement of Jesus’ right to his life and his own love for Him led him to answer God’s calling to preach. Out of love obedience came. Paul would do what Jesus called him to do because of this love. Jesus’ love for sinful Saul/Paul compelled him to do what He asked of him. That impetus, Christ’s compelling, led Paul to preach the gospel. Paul recognized Who called him to preach. He acknowledged that call and the reason, His grace though he himself sinned, and obeyed Jesus’ calling. Paul’s action, internally, was loving Jesus and, externally, was preaching to every person to whom he could.

The result of Paul’s recognizing, acknowledging, and being obedient to Jesus’ compelling him to preach affects the four spheres of a person-mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Paul yearned to be “fully clothed” by being perfected by Christ on the day he entered heaven. He no longer wanted to groan and be burdened because of not being clothed in His heavenly dwelling (vs 3-4). Paul received courage from Christ while at home in his body (on earth) and away from the Lord (vs 6). He was called Christ’s ambassador (vs. 14). Paul worked for Christ (vs 21). He carried within himself the hope of becoming the righteousness of God through Jesus (vs 21). These are the result of Paul acknowledging and acting on Jesus’ call on his life. Each of these brings glory to God. God would be seen in Paul’s life in each of the actions and the results. People would seek God and glorify Him because of who He is and what He has done as they saw in Paul’s life and their own.

Impetus leads to action then to result. What one allows to cause their actions shows what his or her desires (impetus) are-self or God. From those actions come results, either praise of self and what one did or acquired or praise of God for what He did and Who He is. Paul chose to act on God’s compelling of him. He gave all the glory to God.

Luke 24

Luke wrote about two disciples of Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ death and resurrection in Luke 24:13-53.  As these two disciples walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus (about 23 miles distance), a man met them on the way and walked with them. As they walked, the third man explained the Scriptures to them from Moses and all the prophets that told about the Messiah. When the three men arrived in Emmaus, the two disciples invited the third man to stay with them for the night. Roads were unsafe at night and people were often robbed. This third man stayed with them and when they sat to eat, He broke the bread and prayed to God. At that moment, the two disciples realized Jesus had risen from the dead alive and walked with and talked with them throughout the journey. Jesus then disappeared. At this point, Luke recorded what the two disciples said and did in verses thirty-two to thirty-five. He said,

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven (Jesus’ first disciples) and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread. [NIV]

What or Who caused the impetus, the action, and the result of the actions of these two Emmaus-traveling disciples? What compelled these two men to action? Upon looking at the statement they made to each other after Jesus disappeared from their sight (vs 31), we read, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” The idiom of “hearts burning within us” is what compelled the men to action. Their “hearts burning” within them means they experienced movement in their hearts to recognize, acknowledge, and respond to someone with action. The word “burning” lets us realize the urgency of this compelling, desire of their hearts. The fire within the men required quenching with action immediately. Upon reading verse thirty-three, we realize these two disciples left Emmaus immediately to return to Jerusalem. The two men disregarded their safety by walking at night on a road with boulders that provided hiding spots for robbers. The care for their safety came second to declaring Jesus rose from the dead. They had seen, heard, and eaten with Him. The impetus for these two disciples began with the burning in their hearts. It came from Jesus.

These two disciples did not manufacture the desire, but obeyed God’s compelling. They desired to tell the disciples in Jerusalem about what they saw. Because of the burning in their hearts caused by Jesus, they felt compelled to tell the disciples about Him being alive. The two men acted immediately, walked urgently to Jerusalem, and gave testimony of Jesus’ resurrection. They understood the importance of Jesus’ resurrection because of what the women told the disciples that morning, what Simeon Peter verified for himself, and what Jesus explained from the Scriptures as they walked to Emmaus. The testimony of these two men became a stabilizer for Jesus’ followers’ faith in Him and an impetus for sending them out to testify about Him. Jesus revealing Himself to the two disciples impelled the men to return quickly to Jerusalem.

Their actions and words testified to Jesus being alive. Their actions resulted in the other eleven disciples and the other Jesus-followers to believe for themselves when Jesus met them (vs 36-49). It resulted in belief by His disciples and worship of Him and praise to God (vs 52-53). Jesus speaking to them opened their spiritual eyes. The two men recognized Him and responded with an urgency. They acted upon the compelling. The actions of the two men resulted in others trusting Jesus fully. It also led to worship and praise of God.

Philippians 2

Paul often wrote letters encouraging Christians to be like him and/or to be like-minded. For him, Paul sought to live his life so like Christ that he could teach people to be like Christ by being a living example for them to imitate. In Philippians 2, he urged (compelled) the believers to be of the same mind as Christ. Here again, the one doing the urging is someone outside oneself. The people would have known Paul from his visits and would realize he preached the gospel. This means they might heed the urging of Paul. The Philippians would do this because they looked up to him as a man being close to the Father and Jesus, and one who learned the gospel very well. Paul became their spiritual father. When urged, out of consideration of Paul’s life and the gospel he preached and out of the truths God taught them and Who they recognized as the One who loved them salvifically, the Philippians would consider the urging/compelling of Paul. They would recognize its validity and author. The believers in Philippi would acknowledge the intent came from God. They would seek to heed the urging/compelling to be like Christ because of love for and out of obedience to Him. The impetus, in this instance, was Paul’s urging of the Philippians as their spiritual father, which he wanted them to consider as Christ’s urging. Paul wanted them to respond to his urging so they would respond to Jesus. Paul explained what being like Christ meant in verses five through eleven.

If the Philippian Christians followed through on Paul’s urging, they would be humble, servants of others, and obedient to God. Their actions would resemble how Jesus acted. The result of their being like-minded with Christ would show they live humble and obedient to God. Their lives would show a striving to grow in relationship with Him and people. God would continue to sanctify them. He would be pleased and would receive the glory.

Paul continued teaching, in Philippians 2:12-18, about obedience to God. In these seven verses, each parent can relate to what he wrote because of raising his or her own child. Paul taught against grumbling while serving the Lord and each other. It appears some Philippian believers did what they felt the Lord required, but they made it known they did not like doing it (vs. 14-16). If a person seeks to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling” (vs 12), he or she strives to grow in likeness to Christ-grow in sanctification. Grumbling is not growing. Grumbling while doing what an authority said is grudging obedience. Paul told the Philippians if they obey God’s will and grow in Christlikeness, then they will become “blameless and pure children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation” (vs 15a). That would result from obeying the compulsion without grumbling. The life of the Philippian believers who obeyed the urging of Paul to be like Christ without grumbling would grow the believers in their walk with Christ (in their sanctification). It would also make their lives a testimony to God’s praise and glory.

More

Many other passages in Scripture tell of God compelling/urging, moving a person or a group of people to action in love and obedience to Him, that resulted in a testimony of Him and praise and worship lifted to Him. Paul urged Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2 to “preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season.” Paul told him to keep his sense of urgency from God to proclaim the gospel. That urgency, the impetus, came from God. The action of obedience caused him to preach. The result would be people hearing about Jesus, professing faith in Him for salvation, and praising God. Timothy would bring glory to God.

In 1 Peter 5, Peter wrote to the elders of the church. He urged them to keep the compelling God placed on their lives, even if they must share the sufferings of Christ. By doing that, they will also “share in the glory to be revealed.” Peter urged the elders to shepherd God’s flock, just as He called them to do. He told each Christian to humble themselves. Be alert and of a sober mind. Resist the devil. Stand firm in the faith. Each of these commands Peter wrote to the dispersed Christians in the Roman empire, reminding them of God’s compelling them. Peter concluded the body of his letter to the Christians in 1 Peter 5:10-11 by writing, “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” Peter reminded the Christians they answered the calling God put on their hearts to trust him. They acted on it by trusting in Jesus as their Savior and living as a Christian, though persecuted. The result of their obedience would give God glory. They would recognize God’s power and praise Him just as Peter did in this closing.

Conclusion

God speaks to each person. He created humanity with a desire (a compelling) for relationship with Him and other people. The freewill He gave each person allows him or her to choose what he or she will do with their desires. God calls to each person to come to Him. He urges him or her to seek, recognize, acknowledge, and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus as the Son of God causes that close communion with God, for which He created each person. It involves the heart, mind, spirit (led by God’s Spirit), and body. A person’s seeking, recognizing, acknowledging, believing, and obeying this call from Him and the call to tell others about Jesus is obedient action, the physical part of the covenant with God a person makes when he or she trusts in Jesus. The result of a person’s obedient action to God’s calling, compulsion, urging, impelling, and movement of one’s heart, mind, and spirit, results in praise to God by other Christians and heavenly beings. It may result in people coming to faith in Jesus because of that person’s obedience. What we must remember, God does not call a person once, just at the time of trusting in Jesus Christ. God calls to a person compelling and urging him or her to follow Him daily. Jesus calls His disciples to pick up his or her cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).  Alternately, a person can choose to fill his or her own desires and experience fulfillment only on a mental and, maybe, physical level. Contrarily, the desires of one’s heart, when fulfilled, do not give complete satisfaction and peace because every facet of a person does not receive fulfillment. Most often, the spiritual side of a person remains unquenched.

God wants a close relationship with each person. He does not coerce anyone. He lets each person choose to seek Him or seek to fulfill personal desires. Each person gets to choose what will guide his or her way. To have a close relationship with God requires communication and communing with Him. Because of this, God will talk to you each day if you will listen for Him. He will move your heart, stir your spirit, urge, and compel you to do and be for Him in this world. Your obedience to what He says will bring Him glory. If the glory does not spotlight God, then the urging and compulsion you followed did not originate from Him, but from yourself.

Each person will feel compelled by things. Wisdom and communion with God will illuminate if that compulsion or desire is from God. If from God, it will lead to Hi, receiving the glory. If it originates from a person, the result will cause the glory to shine on one who is not God.

The urgings you obey determines who you love most and who will get the glory,

you or God.

Who leads you? Who do you follow?

Who receives the glory at the end of your day?

Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24 [NIV])

Treasured

 

Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. (Exodus 19:5 [Amplified Bible, Classic edition]) 

    People read this verse and often wonder what an odd word choice God used to speak about people. In today’s understanding, “peculiar” means odd. In the Hebrew language, this word does not mean that. It comes from the word segullah meaning to earn and to acquire. This adjective describes something or someone valuable by which the owner acquired or earned through his or her own exertions. The owner worked for it; he gave something for it. With this understanding of that definition, it might seem unusual for God to say He exerted Himself to possess the people about whom He spoke. 

    Consider these people and through what they went. These people were the Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To these men, God promised descendants greater than the stars of the sky and the sand of the earth. When God spoke to the Israelites through Moses, He called them His “peculiar possession.” In considering the definition of “peculiar” as the Israelites understood it, we realize He meant He exerted Himself to acquire or earn the deliverance of the Israelites to be His own people. This statement takes the hearers and readers to what God did in the Israelites’ lives.

    What did God do before He made this statement? He reminded them of this in Exodus 19:4, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself.” God reminded the Israelites and us about what He did to the Egyptians. He caused the crashing of the Red Sea waves to swallow the bodies of Pharaoh and his army. God dried a passage across the Red Sea bed by which Israelites could escape from Pharaoh. His action for them was like eagles’ wings that bore them to safety. God revealed Himself again to the Israelites as I AM, the one and only God, the almighty One and only One whom they should worship.

    With verse five, God spoke to the Israelites using a conditional statement. “If you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession.” He gave the Israelites a choice to be His people. When God created humanity, He made them in His image. He gave them the freedom to choose things for themselves. This means people can choose their own way or the best way, God’s ways. Sin occurs when a person chooses contrary to God’s will. Sin, which separates people from God, is the reason humanity needed salvation from the time God created them. With this conditional statement in Exodus 19:5, God, because of His love, allowed the Israelites to exercise their freewill to choose Him for their God or to go their own way. If they chose God, they would obey Him and be faithful to their covenant with Him and He would make them His peculiar possession. Being God’s possession means anything they needed-safety, provisions, shelter, deliverance, redemption, etc.-God would provide. A covenant is a two-way promise by each party to the other party. God chose the Israelites for His own to show His glory to other people and nations. God wanted to be in a relationship with humanity when He created Adam and Eve. At that point, He provided a way for them to receive cleansing from their sins, so they could be holy (see Genesis 3). God did this because He wants a relationship with each person. God’s faithfulness to His covenant with humanity began at creation. His bringing the Israelites out of Egypt continued to show His faithfulness to the promise He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Just as He gave these patriarchs a promise, and they believed in and worshiped Him, He gave the descendants of these patriarchs the choice to covenant with Him. God chose them to be His peculiar people. He gave them the option of joining with Him in covenant. Would the Israelites be faithful to Him by obeying and keeping their promise that He would be their only God?

    One last statement by God in this covenant needs understanding. He said if they kept their covenant with Him, He would do more than provide for and protect them. God said the Israelites would be a kingdom of priests to Him (Exodus 19:6). That may seem like an odd phrase and a big goal to set before any person. Still, we should realize one thing; the calling and ability to be priests for God comes from God. If the Israelites would stay faithful to their covenant with Him, He would be for and do for them what they needed. What did the Israelites need in Exodus 10? Continued deliverance. These two words take us back to the Hebrew word segullah. In its first usage in the Old Testament, in Exodus 15:16, this word meant God purchased them. God said it again in Deuteronomy 7:6 when He told the Israelites they were holy and set-apart to the Lord. The Lord is the one who makes a person holy and set apart. Nothing a person can do gives them deliverance from the stain of sins in his or her heart, mind, and spirit. No one can make themselves holy. In Exodus 19:6, God’s exertion of Himself for the deliverance of the Israelites is what made them holy. In the New Testament, the meaning stays the same, God delivering/redeeming people. The Greek word for redeeming is lutroo. Titus wrote in Titus 2:14, “God gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Peter stated the same in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light” [NIV]. Deliverance (segullah in Old Testament) and redemption (lutroo in New Testament) mean essentially the same thing, as these verses show. God delivers and redeems people from the sins and people who make them captives. He makes them holy and His peculiar/special possession. God’s faithfulness to His covenant with people spans from creation into eternity. In looking at the past, we notice people proved faithless to their covenant with Him. God has always been faithful to people.

    These three verses hold the nuggets of truth about God and His relationship with humanity. The nuggets are three-fold. First, God makes Himself known to people in several ways, through creation, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the testimony of other Christians, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and biblical teaching and preaching. God wants each person to know Him and has made Himself known to people. The second nugget is God gives people the choice and opportunity to covenant with Him. He calls people to come to Him, to make them holy and call His children. Jesus said in Matthew 7 people should ask, seek, and knock, then they will receive, find God, and have His door opened to them. Romans 10:13 states, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Peter said, in 1 Peter 1:15, that the Holy One calls people to Himself. Psalm 55:16 says those who call upon God will receive His salvation. Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 1:2, people answer God’s call to them. God said, in Isaiah 65:24, before people call to Him, He will heed and answer them. Many more passages in the Bible speak about God calling to people. He calls them to come to Him and be in a relationship with Him. The third nugget of truth in Exodus 19: 4-6 is that when people covenant with Him through the new covenant Jesus provides, God makes them holy and part of His “peculiar people”. He redeems them and makes them His own. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:7 that Jesus gives redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins. He wrote in Galatians 1:4 that Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this evil age. In Hebrews 9:15, the writer says, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” In Isaiah 44:22, God said He swept away the offense of the Israelites and told them to return to Him because He redeemed them.

    God did not choose only the Israelites to be His peculiar people. He chooses each person He created. He wants to deliver and redeem each person. John said Jesus came to save anyone who would believe in Him in John 3:16. 2 Peter 3:9 states, God does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God wants everyone to receive salvation. The new covenant, given through the death and resurrection of Jesus, is God’s never-ending and perfect covenant offered to people. The Israelites often proved themselves unfaithful to their covenants with God in the Old Testament. With the passing of time and because of God’s mercy, some Israelites returned to their covenant with Him. Still, without the perfect sacrifice for sins, each of them became stained again with their sins. The legal requirement was to offer another imperfect sacrifice to atone for their sins. Jesus, being the perfect sacrifice, need never sacrifice for the sins of humanity again. The holiness of the sinless Son of God gave the perfect sacrifice for humanity’s sins. People need never offer another sacrifice once he or she repents and confesses of his or her sins and trusts in Jesus for salvation.

    The covenants in the Bible have the same basic format. God makes Himself known to people. He gives them a choice to join with Him in covenant-to worship and serve only Him. God provides everything a person needs for life and makes him or her His peculiar (acquired and treasured) possession. With the Old Testament covenants, God acquired the people as His possession by His delivering them from servitude and difficulty. He showed His covenant faithfulness to them. In the New Testament, God acquired believers as His treasured possession through the greatest cost, the crucifixion and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

    God gives each person the opportunity to recognize Him, turn to and choose Him, and receive salvation through Jesus, be made holy by Him, and be His child (His “peculiar people”). Today, He has shown Himself to you. Will you recognize Him? Will you turn to Him, repent of your sins, and confess Jesus as the Son of God who died for your sins? Once you recognize, repent, and confess Jesus as God’s Son and your Savior, God will make you one of His peculiar people, His treasured child. 

You no longer have to be odd.

You can become treasured. 

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what he promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 [AMPC])

Devoted Love

 

“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I, the LORD, have created it!” (Isaiah 45:8 [ESV]) 

    Almost everyone has stood dominoes in a row on their ends on a flat surface or has seen this done. When any domino falls over, others fall as a reaction of the first fall. People call this phenomenon the domino effect. An action causes a reaction. Our lives are like that. At times, we choose not to follow what God told us. After disobeying, we find the result is not bad, so it becomes easier to go against God’s will more. Before we realize it, we walk so far away from Him that we cannot hear His voice and we find ourselves in trouble. What God said through Isaiah speaks about this. 

    Isaiah 45:8 records several commands from heaven. In it, He commands the heavens to shower from above, tells the clouds to rain down righteousness, tells the earth to open so salvation and righteousness may bear fruit, and tells the earth to cause them to spout. The last section of this verse declares who commanded these actions, the LORD God. 

    Notice the Creator commands different parts of creation to act. From the highest part of creation, the heavens, God commands showers, continual flows of righteousness and salvation, to fall. Descending to the next level, He commands the clouds to rain down righteousness. Finally, God commands creation at humanity’s level to bear fruit and cause it to spout. What does God mean by each of these commands? 

    The first command declares that righteousness and salvation come from the heavens. In biblical understanding, the heavens denote the place God lives. The “showers” spoken of by God are flowing waters. Throughout the Bible, the writers mention a river flowing from the fountain, from God’s mercy seat. He is the source of true salvation, righteousness, grace, and mercy for all people. This means God’s showers from the heavens continually flow from Him with mercy and grace to give salvation and righteousness. 

    The second command God gives is for the clouds to rain down righteousness. Again, only God gives righteousness and salvation. Righteousness is God making a person right, cleansed from sin and made holy. Righteousness is part of God’s character. He is righteous; He never sins. God is holy. A person’s being made righteous by God occurs when he or she professes faith in Jesus as the Son of God and confesses his/her sins for salvation. The salvation by God of a person gives righteousness from God to that person. God alone provides salvation and makes believers righteous. Until a person professes faith in Jesus, the flowing river of God’s grace and mercy does not affect him or her. God does not have to give righteousness and salvation, but He chose to provide for it when He created all creation. He knew people would sin because He gave them freewill to decide what they will do in each situation. This means, before God made a verbal covenant with humanity in the Old Testament, an implied covenant by God to people existed. He planned to provide salvation from sins, guilt from sins, and the judgment of eternal death away from Him for each person. 

    With God’s third command, He orders the earth to open so salvation and righteousness will bear fruit. God addresses the last level of creation, earth. When “earth” appears in this verse, He means people. Once a person professes faith in Jesus, God gives salvation. Salvation is His restoration of each believer to sinlessness in His eyes, a cleansed, righteous relationship with God by Jesus’ death. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 [ESV]. Once a person receives God’s grace (undeserved forgiveness at the expense of holy God) through faith, a relationship with God occurs. This relationship, like any relationship, requires communing with Him in devoted love. Staying in communion with God requires a person to be open to God and grow to know Him better. This explains the analogy God commands that “the earth opening to salvation and righteousness.” A believer devotedly loving God shown by drawing near to Him each day causes growth in his or her relationship with God. 

    The last command God gives through Isaiah is for the earth to cause salvation and righteousness to sprout. God’s fourth command expresses the causal effect of command three for command four. This means open to God and His gifts and you will have a relationship with and spiritual growth from Him. Without a growing relationship with God, spiritual growth, fruit, will not occur. Sanctification becomes stagnant. In this instance, the domino remains standing, but not strengthened in its foundation for stabilization. Spiritual growth may seem the obvious effect from salvation. Yet, some believers reach the end of the honeymoon phase and their find life trouble-free. They begin not relying on God every day and not communing with Him. This causes the stagnation of a believer’s spiritual growth. When times are troublesome, almost every believer seeks God. He or she desires Him and seeks Him through prayer and Bible study. God spoke to this human tendency of not communing with God daily in the fourth command of this verse. He told His children to let their salvation and righteousness “sprout”. Let it grow by devotedly loving God. Devoted love for Him results in believers setting aside time to be with Him each day through prayer, Bible reading and studying, fellowshiping with other believers, and private and congregational worship. Communing with God nurtures and matures the believer to be more like Christ, who is wholly righteous. The result of this maturation of the believer is the bearing of fruit that come from salvation and righteousness. This fruit then leads to obedience to God requiring action and/or thought. Each person will only understand what thought or action God desires by relating to Him through a continual relationship with Him. 

    Stay connected to the Vine. Being connected to the Vina is devotedly loving and communing with God. Once a grape leaves the vine, it withers and dies. Remaining connected to the vine allows the grape to receive nourishment and grow. John said this in John 15:1-2 when wrote, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit [ESV].” Only God’s righteousness causes growth. Attempts by people to manufacture righteousness fail. God is the author of salvation and causes its growth when a person professes faith in Jesus and stays in a continual relationship with Him. 

    The believer becomes more like Christ and becomes more sanctified when he or she stays in a devoted relationship with God. This shows salvation is for now and for eternity. A growing relationship with God produces a greater faith and sanctification. The growth of righteousness shows by fruits of the Spirit growing in the believer. Paul listed some fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God will perfect the believer’s sanctification when he or she dies on earth and arrives in heaven. Salvation is for now, tomorrow, and eternity. God did not intend for it solely to be for eternity. God, through Isaiah, commands the “earth” (people) to “open” (command three) and commune with Him. This means God desires for each believer’s salvation and righteousness to grow (command four). 

    Isaiah 45:22 reiterates verse eight with another command. God commands in this verse, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” A person cannot save him or herself. Sinfulness cannot beget purity like a mule cannot beget a horse. Do not look elsewhere for salvation and a possible way to be righteous. Turn toward God and look to Him. Keep on looking at Him and don’t look elsewhere. When a person takes his or her eyes off God, the dominoes begin falling. Later, after many dominoes have fallen, that person who looked away will recall his or her life while clinging to the Vine. He or she will realize how and when he or she disconnected from God. When we are at that point, we must pray, repent, and return to God. He will restore righteousness to each person who calls on Him. In 1 John 1:9, John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

    Being saved by God is a continuous action. God saves a believer at a point in time. That person, like all believers, is being saved from death, temptation, sin, and guilt each day. One day God will complete in heaven that believer’s sanctification, purification that leads to holiness. Repenting, which leads to confession, means doing a 180 degree turn to look at God. The believer turns and keeps turning toward God and He continues to sanctify him or her each day as he or she repents and confesses his or her sins. Each day, the believer must look and keep on looking at God. Commune and keep on communing with God. Jesus spoke in His Sermon on the Mount about God wanting a relationship with each person by telling people to seek, knock, and ask in Matthew 7:7-8. He said, 

“Ask (and keep on asking), and it will be given to you. Seek (and keep on seeking), and you will find. Knock (and keep on knocking), and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” [ESV]

     Cling to the Vine. Take in the righteousness God rains down on you. Let the salvation God gives burrow into the ground of your heart, mind, and spirit so that righteousness and the fruits of the Spirit grow. A believer can allow sprouting and growing by staying connected to God, the giver of the fruit. 

    The Lord created everything that exists, including you. He gives righteousness and salvation to you when you believe in Jesus Christ and confess your sins. You only need to cling to the Vine by devotedly loving and obeying God (Jeremiah 2:2). Don’t let the dominoes in life cause a domino effect in your life. Don’t let things in your life lead you away from God. Stay connected to God. Grow in sanctification and righteousness. 

Small Gift, Big Effect

 

“One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There was a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?’” John 6:8-9 [AMP] 

Jesus, before John 6, had been in Jerusalem. He healed a lame man on the Sabbath, and the Jewish leaders harassed Him about it. Jesus taught them about His authority to heal and do it on a Sabbath. He told them He is the Son of God.

After the Sabbath, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee. “A huge crowd of people” followed looking for Him (John 6:5). John said in John 6 that the crowds followed Jesus because they saw His miraculous signs. The people observed the big miracles Jesus did, and their curiosity continued about Him and His miracles.

            Notice, the crowds expected big miracles like healing people or raising people from the dead. Many of the ones who followed Jesus turned away from following Him when the Chief Priests’ solders arrested Him before His crucifixion (John 6:66). These people reacted as we often do. We sometimes turn our backs on Jesus when things do not work out the way we want.

How are we often like these early followers of Jesus? They followed Jesus and listened to God’s plan as long as they saw the big things He would do. Jesus amazed these people as they watched Him do the unexplainable. As we read John 6:8-9, we realize Andrew did not discard something small as being unworthy for use by Jesus. Philip realized the enormous task and saw nothing big by which to feed 5000 hungry men. Andrew understood God can use small and large. He recognized God gives small and large blessings and could use them for His purposes, though he did not understand how.

            Consider this in your life. Do you not recognize God even gave you the small things in your life? Do you consider He gave the small things just for you and not for use for something bigger than you? Philip did not recognize God gave the five loaves and two small fish to feed the 5000+ men. Andrew saw, considered, and wondered if Jesus could use them to feed the people. He led the young boy to Jesus and announced he found food but wondered “what good it would be with the huge crowd?” Andrew offered the young boy’s lunch as an answer in how they might feed the people. When he did that, the young boy inwardly conceded his right to keep the food for himself. Jesus showed God’s care for the people and His power over each aspect of life including sustenance, multiplication, sufficiency, and longevity.

            Today, ask God, “What have I not returned to You for Your purposes?” All God gives you is a blessing from Him. Sometimes the blessing is for you to keep and use for yourself. At other times, God’s blessing for you comes as you use the gifts as God guides to help, teach, guide, and/or forgive someone else. Not all gifts are tangible. Nor are they always expensive. Yet, each gift comes from God. Our perception often hides the intangible and inexpensive from our definition as gifts.

God gave one particular gift for each person. Its cost was great. That gift is salvation from sins and death. Christians do not die for the salvation of other people. Jesus did that with His perfect sacrifice. We should willingly die to self and our desires so other people will hear about Jesus, trust in Him, and receive salvation through Him by faith.

What do you now realize God gave you that you need to give back for His purposes?

God, I am a sinner. I’ve sinned against You and people by storing things up for myself because I considered I earned them or because I was totally selfish about what You gave me. Lord, please forgive me for not recognizing You gave me all I have, even salvation. Lord, take this heart of mine and mold it to desire what You desire. Make me desire You more than anything or anyone. Lord, nudge me from my plans to see the people You put around me whom You love. Show me how You want to use me to help them. Help me always to say, “Yes!” to You. Today, Lord, I give all I am and have, no matter how small I consider it, back to You. Thank you for never giving up on me and being patient with me. Amen.

The Advent of Salvation

 

“And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God…” Hebrews 10:11-13 [ESV]

In Hebrews 10:11-12, the writer contrasted and compared the priests with Jesus. He said the priests stood daily to offer sacrifices. Jesus offered one sacrifice and then sat. He did not have to stand daily to offer again. The priests rise daily, but Jesus said, "It is finished." Compare this with when God finished creating the world, then rested on His throne.

People must rise daily to do things. These things are mundane compared to salvation, but we must do these tasks for survival or for a man-made reason. Some of us rise daily to compete to be better than other people. Others rise daily to do good works hoping to get to heaven, but never find assurance of that or rest. Each day we strive for something. Jesus strove for one thing, our salvation. His goal in life was His end game. The “end game” was to provide the only needed salvation for our sins so that any person who believes He is the Son of God, the Savior, will receive salvation and eternal life.

The questions this should make us ask ourselves is, “For what do we strive? What spurs us on and who drives us? Fame, fortune, and self or the Spirit of Christ within us pushing us to live out our faith so other people can know about Jesus.” Neither ways of living and doing earn us salvation. Nothing we can do will earn us salvation from our sins. Living life with the Spirit in us shows people we are Christians, we are saved. People can experience the real, living, and sacrificial Jesus because of our actions of letting the Spirit live in the world through us.

Jesus does not have to rise each day to offer sacrifices for the sins we did since the last sacrifice. His sacrifice was enough to cleanse each person who trusts in Him from all their sins and their consciousness of their sins. He's been sitting on the right side of the Father’s throne since He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The priests stand, they rise, each day to offer sacrifices because they are given by mortal, sinful men and are from the blood of impure and imperfect sources. Jesus, the pure Son of God, died sinless for all sinners then rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. 

The priests rise each day. Jesus sits.

 It is finished.