Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “God’s Covenants with Us”. Have you noticed that the important covenants with God are not mutual? When the people were pricked in their conscience… realizing how far they were from what God wanted, they asked “’what shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (John 6:28-29). God knows us. He knows our promises are worthless. And each of knows this, too. Each of us knows “your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus, your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him” (Steps to Christ pg. 47). As Graham Maxell so often stated, “all God asks of us is to trust Him”. If we truly trust Him (have faith in Him), all the issues evaporate like morning mist at sunrise.
Do we have a part to play in this “trust”, in this “faith”? Of course. True trust/faith leads us to follow. But let us not forget that God’s covenants are not like man’s (I do this if you do this). All the promises are on God’s side. The true trust/faith is on our side. It is not a “tit-for-tat”. God is our God of love. He is our Father. “When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man's best service” (Signs of the Times, June 16, 1890). True trust/faith leads us to follow. Acting on that trust/faith is education. It is not the means by which to invoke God’s blessing. He blesses us. Period. And that blessing leads us to follow.
Let us not relegate our Father and His love to some business transaction. It is Family. It is love. Love that will discipline us and lead us to grow-up. Love that loves. Because God is convinced, that love is the greatest power in the universe. And it is.
With brotherly love to you all.
Jim