IT'S THE JOURNEY, AND THE DESTINATION
Deuteronomy 10:12
"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Last week I was hunting and calling turkeys with and for friends in deep South Texas. One day my grandson Micah and I were going from place to place trying to find a gobbler for me to harvest. The harvest was the goal, but we didn't know where and when it would happen... but we spent all afternoon and evening pursing one goal.
At one point we drive the side by side down the wrong trail and attempted to cut through an area of the South Texas brush, just to hit dead end after dead end, having to turn around and try again. Most of the afternoon we were able to stay on good trails to continue on the trek that we had set out to do. After a couple of failed attempts and a rushed shot, which was a major disappointment... we ended up successful. It wasn't always easy, and it was frustrating and even a little painful sometimes, but we worked hard and because we stayed the course, we were successful.
This is a picture of our lives as people that want to know what God has for us in life. We want to know where He wants us to go and what to do with our lives. And I want you to know that He is not impressed by how much we accumulate in getting to where He wants us. He doesn't care about the awards and recognition that we get along the way. He cares about how we live our life, in Him.
I think that God gives us many open doors in life and we can walk through those that we desire. Too often we kick doors in and have to restart again and again. Like the trail we tried to blaze where there was no trail in the brush. Our wrong choices cause us grief and more work. Don't kick in doors.
God doesn't need us to do His work. He wants us to do the three things laid out for us in the scripture above, everything else He asks of us falls under these three things.
Obey (fear) Him
Love Him
Worship Him
OBEY HIM
To "fear" the LORD doesn't mean that we are terrified of Him. It means that we have a working understanding of how holy, how just, and how powerful He is. HHe hates sjn and is furious at every sin, He stands ready to attack it wherever He sees it, and He has the ability to destroy it in any way He chooses.
With this understanding of our God, we don't want to mess around with sin. We don't want to offend and hurt our Heavenly Father.
So, we commit to "walking in all his ways." We read our Bibles, find out what God requires, and do it. When we stray from what God requires, we quickly confess it as sin, repent (turn from it), and get back on the road to the holiness He wants of us.
LOVE HIM
God doesn't want us to simply obey rules, which are for our good, by the way. He also wants our heart. We are called to love Him. That means that we recognize that our God is not an "it" but, as a Person, enjoys relationship. God has enjoyed relationship in the Trinity for all of eternity. And, as He calls us to Himself, He invites us to enjoy being a part of that relationship.
"This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent, Jesus Christ." (John 17:3)
WORSHIP HIM ("with all your heart and all our soul")
Worship is what God made us to do. Worship is simply being completely so captivated by something that we give it honor by giving it our full attention. We want to take it all in.
When we come to understand how wonderful our God is, we will naturally be continually moved to worship. We will enjoy being in His presence. We will gladly acknowledge our willing submission to Him.
Wherever you feel God is calling you... know that through the journey, He requires just three things of you. The rest is just the paths we chose...
Obey Him
Love Him
Worship Him
The rest of life will take care of itself. It's not the journey, it's the destination
Help achieve the mission - GIVE today
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