|
SHOW
ME THAT YOU LOVE ME - Ken
Graydon |
|
ETERNAL
has put in place, for the people He is calling, a practical path of love,
peace and contentment. We have to follow the steps He places before us,
demonstrate our love for Him in our way of life. Don’t just say the words
but show Him that you love Him. Exodus
20:6 but showing kindness to the thousands of those who love Me and keep My
commandments. Deuteronomy
5:10 but showing kindness to the thousands of those who love Me and keep My
commandments. Deuteronomy
6:5 You shall love ETERNAL your Creator with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy
7:9,10. Know, therefore, that only ETERNAL your Creator is SOVEREIGN, the
steadfast SOVEREIGN who keeps His covenant faithfully to the thousandth
generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments but who instantly
requites with destruction those who reject Him. Deuteronomy
10:12. And now O Israel, what does ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN demand of you?
Only this; to revere ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN, to walk only in His paths, to
love Him and to serve ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN with all your heart and soul. Deuteronomy
11:1. Love, therefore, ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN and always keep His charge,
His laws, His rules and His commandments. This
sampling of verses serves to illustrate that ETERNAL wants us to demonstrate
our love for Him by following His commandments and serving Him. We are
obedient to Him because we want to demonstrate our love for Him not to be
legalistic. The Ten Commandments, the food laws, circumcision, charity,
bearded men and modest women are ways of life we embrace to show our love
for ETERNAL. It makes us different, not necessarily better, but really
determined to show our love for our SOVEREIGN. Contrast
this to the followers of christianity who talk a lot about love but 90% of
them fail to keep the Commandment about keeping the Sabbath, and 100% of
them fail to keep the first Commandment “you
shall have no other gods beside Me.” You cannot ignore the
clear instructions of ETERNAL and think you are showing love for Him. You
cannot insult ETERNAL by saying He is so inept that He needed a ‘son’ to
try to retrieve the situation – and that the ‘son’ would be almost as
inept and would fail the first time and would need a second chance to try to
‘save the world’. The situation we see around us in the world is spelled
out clearly in the Tanakh. ETERNAL
has not failed, He has given us choices. Do it ETERNAL’s way and be
blessed, do it some other way and be cursed. Deuteronomy
30:15-18 See I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and
adversity. For I command you this day, to love ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN, to
walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His laws, His rules that you
may thrive and increase and that ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN may bless you in the
land that you are about to enter and possess. But if your heart turns away
and you give no heed and are lured into the worship and service of other g-ds,
I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish. The
news we read, or see on television, shows us that the curses are clearly
evident. Every kind of crime, abuse, horror and ‘natural disasters’ are
taking place in our nearby towns and cities. See what are the most important
things in the minds of people around you – that is what they worship.
ETERNAL said “you shall have no other
gods beside me.” Once money, possessions, popularity or
appearances become the most important things in our lives they become
‘gods’ to us and we become breakers of the Commandments. In
the charge Joshua gave the Israelites, just before his death, [read it in
Joshua 23:1-16] he makes some very important points for us to consider
today. Verse 6 – do not deviate in any way from the Teaching of Moses
[Torah], Verse 11 be mindful to love ETERNAL, Verse 12 if you turn away from
ETERNAL you will perish. Read all of it to get the context. If
we are not Israelites, do not let anyone put us down. ETERNAL welcomes the
obedient, loving stranger. Isaiah
56:6-8 As for the foreigners who attach themselves to ETERNAL to minister to
Him and to love the name of ETERNAL, to be His servants – all who keep the
Sabbath and do not profane it and who hold fast to My covenant. I will bring
them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their
burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar; for My House
shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus
said ETERNAL who gathers the dispersed of Israel. “I will gather still
more to those already gathered.” We
know that ETERNAL loves us. We see that in every answered prayer, in healing
we receive, in the changed circumstances around us, in the promises He
keeps. Now ETERNAL is saying “Show Me that you love Me” and how will He
know that you do? You will be doing the things He asks of you – because
you want to. You will keep the Commandments, the laws and rules [the ones in
the Torah not the added human ones]. You will meet Him in prayer because you
want to be in His presence. You will be honest and charitable because that
would please Him – it will also cause you to be blessed. When ETERNAL acts in your life, and He will, if you are showing Him by your actions that you love Him, be ready to respond. If there is something you need to remove from your life, when He reminds you, get rid of it. If there is something you should add to your life, plan how to do it. ETERNAL does not need your help but He does need your love. Only
you can decide how, when or if, you will give your love. ETERNAL is asking
for yours, now. He is saying “Show Me
that you love Me”.
|