Can You Serve God For Nothing?
DAILY VITAMIN
- Can You Serve God For Nothing?
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15)
There is a marvelous picture in the book of Habakkuk of a true revelation about one man's love for God. He [the prophet] said that even if all he had ceased to prosper; even if his life came to a standstill and he lost every sense of hope for a revival; even if the picture of his future loses the poise and élan he was promised, yet will he serve-and rejoice in-Jehovah (3:17-18).
Just like Job, this was a man who loved God not for what He gives, but for whom He is.
But here lies the irony: How many of us can the same be said of today? How many of us will choose God even if that choice had no benefit to it? How many of us will choose God all over again if we had a hall-pass to live in any way, and if judgment, heaven and hell ceased to exist? This is what it means to truly love God: to serve and obey Him even when there's no reward or consequence attached to it.
Moreover, even the waiting period is made easier with this understanding, as I emphasized in the book When God's Time Starts To Seem Not Like The Best : Handling the pressures of the waiting period.
I have heard many a person talk about how much they love God; and even though I should be elated, I'm bemused. This curiosity of mine wonders and then begs the question that if truly they did, would they love God if they lost all they had presently? Would they? Would they love Him if He took an arm away from them? Would they still love Him if He refused to deliver them in their times of trouble?
Job said that even if God (note, not the devil nor any other adversary) slay him, he would still love Him. That's true love- for even when we had nothing to offer Him, He loved us still (Romans 5:8).
So, ask yourself, is your love conditional? Is your love strong and intense because you live in a posh condo in Atlantic City? Would you love Him the same way if He had left you in the anarchic and pillaged villages of Kabul? That's the question we need to answer; because that's the only question whose answer can grant us the liberty to know our true stance in the face of all trials.
Can you serve God for nothing?
If He refused to honor your prayers, or do everything He promised He would, would you still stick around? God seeks those who love Him first for His identity before His liberality. That was the kind of man David was, and God loved him for it even beyond death. He called him 'a man after my own heart'- a man who cared more about what God was pleased with than what God could please him with. Is that the kind of man you are too?
For your sake, I do hope so; because no one can truly resist the devil's whims on all areas except he is. Jesus spoke about living only for the Father's will (John 5:30) and then would speak of how the devil could find nothing on Him to usurp His glory (John 14:30-31).
Growing up in the faith, this was my truest desire, and still is. The fame and gains didn't matter to me- my head may have craved for them, but not my heart. It desired just the thought of pleasing Him unconditionally. Today, I pray daily for that exact grace. I want to love God for whom He is. I want to love Him even if hell was all there was. I want to love Him without conditions. I want to love Him without a reason. I want to do everything I do for Him not for what I stand to get but for what He wants.
This is what I desire. It may not be as easy as it seems; it may even take a lifetime to perfect; but it is. And I hope you do too; because unless we are willing to serve God for nothing, not everything will be rendered at our disposal.
"And he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to (Matthew 6:33 TLB)..... and Jesus said unto them, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. This is the first and great commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38)
- Can You Serve God For Nothing?
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15)
There is a marvelous picture in the book of Habakkuk of a true revelation about one man's love for God. He [the prophet] said that even if all he had ceased to prosper; even if his life came to a standstill and he lost every sense of hope for a revival; even if the picture of his future loses the poise and élan he was promised, yet will he serve-and rejoice in-Jehovah (3:17-18).
Just like Job, this was a man who loved God not for what He gives, but for whom He is.
But here lies the irony: How many of us can the same be said of today? How many of us will choose God even if that choice had no benefit to it? How many of us will choose God all over again if we had a hall-pass to live in any way, and if judgment, heaven and hell ceased to exist? This is what it means to truly love God: to serve and obey Him even when there's no reward or consequence attached to it.
Moreover, even the waiting period is made easier with this understanding, as I emphasized in the book When God's Time Starts To Seem Not Like The Best : Handling the pressures of the waiting period.
I have heard many a person talk about how much they love God; and even though I should be elated, I'm bemused. This curiosity of mine wonders and then begs the question that if truly they did, would they love God if they lost all they had presently? Would they? Would they love Him if He took an arm away from them? Would they still love Him if He refused to deliver them in their times of trouble?
Job said that even if God (note, not the devil nor any other adversary) slay him, he would still love Him. That's true love- for even when we had nothing to offer Him, He loved us still (Romans 5:8).
So, ask yourself, is your love conditional? Is your love strong and intense because you live in a posh condo in Atlantic City? Would you love Him the same way if He had left you in the anarchic and pillaged villages of Kabul? That's the question we need to answer; because that's the only question whose answer can grant us the liberty to know our true stance in the face of all trials.
Can you serve God for nothing?
If He refused to honor your prayers, or do everything He promised He would, would you still stick around? God seeks those who love Him first for His identity before His liberality. That was the kind of man David was, and God loved him for it even beyond death. He called him 'a man after my own heart'- a man who cared more about what God was pleased with than what God could please him with. Is that the kind of man you are too?
For your sake, I do hope so; because no one can truly resist the devil's whims on all areas except he is. Jesus spoke about living only for the Father's will (John 5:30) and then would speak of how the devil could find nothing on Him to usurp His glory (John 14:30-31).
Growing up in the faith, this was my truest desire, and still is. The fame and gains didn't matter to me- my head may have craved for them, but not my heart. It desired just the thought of pleasing Him unconditionally. Today, I pray daily for that exact grace. I want to love God for whom He is. I want to love Him even if hell was all there was. I want to love Him without conditions. I want to love Him without a reason. I want to do everything I do for Him not for what I stand to get but for what He wants.
This is what I desire. It may not be as easy as it seems; it may even take a lifetime to perfect; but it is. And I hope you do too; because unless we are willing to serve God for nothing, not everything will be rendered at our disposal.
"And he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to (Matthew 6:33 TLB)..... and Jesus said unto them, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. This is the first and great commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38)
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