JOHN 17:1-3 – When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
LUKE 10:25-28 – And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
THEME OF THE DAY: LIFE’S TWO GREATEST PRIVILEGES. How would you answer today’s nugget theme? No peeking to the above scriptures because the answers are there. You might, and I get it, answer, “To obey God and proclaim the Gospel.” Those are great privileges for sure. Or perhaps you answered in a way that gets part of my question right – “To obey God and love Him.” Yes, one of life’s greatest privileges is to love God, but to love Him is inseparably linked to obeying Him. So, really, they are one. Jesus told us twice in the Upper Room Discourse of such a unity – If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15) and Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him (John 14:21).
Life’s two greatest privileges are to know God so that we might love God. It’s that way in human relationships and especially so in marriage. We find mutual attraction in our future spouse so what do we do? Spend a lot of time together getting to know each other, and as the knowing grows, the love starts sprouting up! And it continues to deepen as we grow in knowledge of each other. We may apply that to friendships as well. Study the biblical friendship between David and Jonathan. They model it well. And this process of knowing leads to love. Jesus tells us in His High Priestly prayer that eternal life is not the length of life but the quality of life experiencing one of the greatest privileges in life – knowing God and Jesus Christ whom God sent. This was certainly the passion of the Apostle Paul. His life testimony was centered on knowing Christ – That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:10). Now the question we must ask . . . Are we grasping knowing God as one of life’s greatest privileges? If so, it will show in the diligence, consistency, and effort we give to knowing Him through the means He has given us – His Word, prayer, and public worship and hearing preaching. Measure yourself by all three and be objective. Our commitment to all three will tell us if knowing God is one of life’s greatest privileges to us.
The second great privilege in life is linked to the Luke passage above. It is to love God. Don’t be quick here. It is easy to say, “I love the Lord.” And also easy to sing the little chorus, “I love You, Lord.” The only way to say and sing those statements and them to be true is our obedience to His Word. To love God is to obey God and that means intentionally putting His commands into our daily lives. God has given us one way to prove loving Him is one of the greatest privileges in our lives – obeying Him. And another question, “Are we with diligence, purpose, and delight?” I hope so. I pray we are, after all, to know Him is to love Him, and to know and love Him are life’s two greatest privileges.
PRAYER: “Father, help me not take for granted what salvation gives to me – the privilege to know and love You.”
QUOTE: “If knowing God so we may love God are not the chief passions in our lives as Christians, we are spiritually ill.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim