WHAT IS THE OBJECT of desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the object of desire to a man who fears Him? God. What is the object of desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and a tree is known by its fruit. Can it be said of you that you love Jesus? If you have to try to defend that position with “but this or but that”, then you don’t really love Jesus. How judgmental of you Crystal! Yet, the Bible says, “judge with righteous judgment”.
I’m grieved by this generation of Christians who live life on their own terms, continue a life of sin and proclaim, “I am free to do all these things!” If you love Him and fear Him, He is the object of your desire. Everything will flow from this desire- how you speak, act, live, where you go and don’t go, and so on. Because I love my husband, I don’t talk bad about him, but only what edifies him. I don’t go places that lead anyone to believe that I’m not fully devoted to him. I don’t do things that lead others to believe I’m not faithful to him. And he is my #2.
How much more so with my Savior and the love of my life, the One who holds my eternity in His hands? Don’t tell me you love Jesus and you live a life of disobedience. This is false love. Don’t tell me you love Him when you sleep with all manner of sin and unrighteousness. This is false love. You don’t love Him because you don’t fear Him.
The Israelites gave God lip service, “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,” Isaiah 29:13 Jesus echoed Isaiah’s words, ““‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;” Matthew 15:8
The psalmist says, “He will fulfill the desire of them who fear Him” Fear and love are inseparable. Fear preserves love from degenerating into presumptuous familiarity and love preserves fear from becoming a servile and cringing dread. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and love is foundational to our salvation. The greatest of faith, hope and love is love. I wonder, do you really love Him and is your fear of Him taught by men to be mere nothing?“Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”John 14:24 ESV#runyourrace
To Learn More About Pastor Crystal please visit the Leadership Page
