Tuesday April 10, 2012

Read Deuteronomy 11: 8-9. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17

 

Work with me on this one. Do this little exercise. Read Deuteronomy 11 (the whole chapter) again and count how many times the command to obey is expressly stated and how many times it’s inferred. How many did you get?

 

Of course we have to ask, ‘Why?’? ‘Why did God call His people to obedience

time and time again?’.  Have you ever thought that if all God wanted was obedience then He could have created robots? Instead He created mankind with free will - freedom indeed to obey and also to disobey. Unfortunately mankind has been using his freedom to disobey since Genesis 3.

 

But God’s plan has always been to create a perfect world and to fill that world with people that willingly choose to love Him and obey Him. Adam and Eve were put into a perfect world and were told to subdue it and fill it with people. In that world, they could have raised a world of offspring that loved God and willingly obeyed God. But they chose to disobey God. They chose to walk away from God.

 

Abram was called to be the people of God and would lead the charge to love God and willingly obey God. His would become a nation set apart to God, living for God in an Eden life paradise.

 

Israel was that nation. As she sat on the banks of the Jordan River her task was outlined. She was to willingly and heartily obey God in that Eden like paradise. She was to model what the people of God were to be like. But as we know, Israel too, decided to walk away from God. She too decided to use her freedom to disobey God.

 

When Jesus came into our world, He was the true people of God. He embodied all that the people of God should embody. He succeeded where the people of God had failed. He came into our world from that perfect paradise and He was perfectly obedient. He never disobeyed God. He never rebelled. He never went His way as opposed to God’s way. He kept the will of God perfectly. But He died on the cross. He was executed. He was accursed by God. He was under the wrath of God.

 

Again, we have to ask ‘Why?’? The answer is simple. Jesus died so that we might live for God. He suffered and died so that we might walk in obedience and give glory and honour to God. He died so that the world might once again be filled with people who love God and willingly and heartily obey Him. Jesus died so that God’s creation plans will come to fruition.

 

Prayer:

¥ Pray for the work of Student Life and Uni-Impact in NZ (David and Kirsty Richards). Ask God to bless these workers with great strategy, plans and ability as they take the gospel to students. Pray that many would be confronted with the gospel  and would turn in repentance and faith to Jesus. Pray that we would see a great harvest coming in among the university students.

¥ Pray for the Mustard Seed Orphanage in Myanmar as they care for and nurture widows, orphans and disabled people. Pray that the love and compassion of Christ would bring many to Jesus in repentance and faith and that they would have all the resources they need to continue serving Jesus in this land.