WALK IN THE LOVE OF GOD
Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is the objective in the Christian life (2 Peter 3:18). That is what our minds are to be focused on doing. When things are healthy, they grow. We are to be healthy Christians. Spiritually healthy. And focusing on Jesus is the only way to accomplish that.
After Paul reminded Titus that we are saved entirely by what God has done and not by anything good that we could ever do, he told him how we are supposed to live as the result. “This is a true teaching and these are things that I want you to make sure that God’s people know. Because those who trust in God are to make sure that they spend their lives doing good. This is the kind of living that is right for ourselves and will help others” (Titus 3:8).
Something that we’re to know. Something that we are to focus on. Something that we are to keep in mind. Doing right because of what Jesus has done for us. It always goes back to Jesus and it’s always about loving him, receiving him, and focusing on him.
We need to change, and we need to grow in our knowledge of him. And there is nothing that is too hard for the Lord (Jeremiah 32:27). He can lead us in the paths of righteousness, as David said in Psalm 23, and if we will hold to his unchanging hand, that’s exactly where he will lead us. The steps of the godly are ordered and directed by the Lord (Psalm 37:23). We have with us the Almighty God of the universe. Always in our corner.
No, he’s not here to serve us. We are here to serve him. But he is there to help us, and we are here because he loves us. And while we don’t tell him what to do—he tells us what to do—we can celebrate the fact that we mean so much to him. This is why he is involved in our lives. We are only alive because of him.
Why does he care about us so much? That is likely the greatest mystery of the universe. Everyone talks about the secrets and the mysteries of the universe. But the main one is why God loves us.
We can explain it in the sense of a parent and a child. We can explain it in the sense of friendship. We can use all sorts of examples to help us come to a greater understanding of who he is and what he does and why he loves us. But it all boils down to this: he loves us because that’s what he wants to do. Because that’s who he is. Because it is his nature to love.
So to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ is to grow in our understanding of his love for us, and the fact that he is always in our corner, so to speak. You are on his mind. You have his attention. Because he loves you.
Nothing you can do will make him love you less in any way whatsoever. That’s important to consider. When you accept the fact that you are loved by God, and that that is a settled fact—there is nothing you can do to change it—you will act better. You will live better. You will do better.
Knowing that you are loved by God and that you don’t have to earn his love, or make him love you, or do things to ensure that he keeps loving you—that is a freeing concept. Freeing in the sense of allowing you the freedom to live, to move, and to breathe his love.
Paul told the Ephesians to walk in love (Ephesians 5:2). And we walk in love in the sense that we know that every step we take is ordered by the love of God. We are alive because he loves us. And once we know God loves us because he has decided to love us, and because it is his nature to love us, and that we cannot make him love us more or make him love us less, we will be mature, grown up believers. Because the love of God does not depend on us. It depends on him. And once you get that straight in your mind, then you experience true freedom. You experience true life. True living.
Knowing that the love of God for you is settled brings life and purpose and fulfillment. You move in the love of God. You walk in the love of God. And it animates everything that you do when you believe in it. So you are not walking around worried about anything. Because the God of the universe loves you. What an amazing and thrilling concept.
Live your life knowing that these things are true. Live your life knowing that your favor with God is settled. Serve him freely out of love. He loves you, so love him back. And let love for God be the guiding and motivating force of your entire life. Let that be the reason that you get up in the morning, and the reason that you live each day.
Saturate yourself with thoughts of God’s love.
Dewayne Dunaway
