Break the vicious circle and get on to God’s victorious circle.
The people of Israel had a testimony. They had been redeemed by the God
of love. Thankful for His love and salvation, they brought their
offerings to the Lord (Deuteronomy 26:5-9). The call to obedience is
grounded in the gift of salvation. Redeemed by the Lord, we are called
to be ‘a people holy to the Lord our God’ (Deuteronomy 26:16-19). There
is no privilege without responsibility. Israel was privileged: God was
giving them ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’. Israel was
responsible: God was saying to them, ‘Keep all the commandments which I
command you this day’ (Deuteronomy 27:1-3). God blesses us. We obey Him.
We enjoy more of His blessing. This leads us to obey Him more. Break
the ‘vicious circle’. Get on to God’s ‘victorious circle’: He shows us
His love. We love Him. He shows us more of His love. We love Him more...
(John 14:21).
God is great. His love is great. His faithfulness is great.
‘Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is beyond
understanding’. Let us worship our great God: ‘I will exalt You, my God
the King. I will praise Your Name for ever and ever. Every day I will
praise You and extol Your Name for ever and ever’ (Psalm 145:1-3). The
God whom we worship is so much greater than the worship we bring to Him.
Our worship is to be a ‘joyful celebration’. We celebrate His great
love: ‘The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in
love’. We rejoice in His great faithfulness: ‘The Lord is faithful to
all His promises’. Here on earth, we have only begun to worship our
great God. Our worship will continue in His ‘everlasting Kingdom’.
There, we will ‘praise His Name for ever and ever’ (Psalm 145:7-8, 13,
21).
Think of the great things that God has done and give all the glory to Him.
With ‘patient endurance’, we are to ‘obey God’s commandments and remain
faithful to Jesus’ (Revelation 14:12), This will not be easy. Satan
will do all that he can to defeat us. How can we be ‘victorious’ over
him? We must rejoice in all that God has done for His people, Israel. He
delivered them from their bondage in Egypt. We sing ‘the song of
Moses’. Beyond the great event of the Exodus, there is something even
more wonderful. We rejoice in what God has done for us - ‘In Christ, God
was reconciling the world to Himself’. We sing ‘the song of the Lamb’
(Revelation 15:2-3; Deuteronomy 7:7-8; 2 Corinthians 5:19). we hear
God’s call - ‘Fear God and give Him glory’. We consider His ‘great and
marvellous deeds’. In our hearts, we say, ‘Who will not fear You, O
Lord, and bring glory to Your Name’ (Revelation 14:7; 15:3-4).
Sow the seed of God’s Word and pray that there will be a great spiritual harvest.
Jesus’ parables are so rich in spiritual content. They speak with an
indirectness which is very direct! They may be parabolic in form, but
they do go right to the heart of the matter in a way that is very
challenging. The parable of the ‘wheat and the weeds’ (Matthew 13:24-30,
with explanation given in Matthew 13:36-43) contrasts a real believing
response to Christ with an empty profession of faith in Him. There is
also something else - leave judgment to God. He knows those who are His
and those who are not. The parable of the mustard seed (Matthew
13:31-32) is a word of encouragement - Do not give up hope that the seed
of God’s Word is growing, slowly and surely, in the hearts of those who
do not appear to be bearing much fruit. The parable of the yeast is
also encouraging - What a difference even a few believers can make to a
whole community!
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