“O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut.10:12).
Dearly beloved,
A question many people ask, what does God expect me to do? God is not asking you anything more than to fear Him, walk in His ways, love and serve Him with your heart and soul. “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” To fear the Lord means having the reverential respect for God; for who He is. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. God expects us to acknowledge that He is the Sovereign God.
To walk in His ways means to live as He desires. The Psalmist says “How can a young person keep his way pure? By living according to Your word” (Psa. 119:9). Living according to God’s word means living a life of faith. Paul is exhorting the believers to “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph.4:1).
The most important of all God’s commandments is to “love your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.” Jesus said “If you love me, you will obey what I commands” (John 14:15). Obedience to the commands is the greatest proof of our love for God. God expects us to love and serve Him with all our heart and soul. He alone is God and He alone deserves our worship. Jesus said “No one can serve two masters.” God expects an undivided loyalty to Him.
Last month 11 members of our church received baptism. This is not only an act of obedience, but also a confirmation of their faith in Jesus Christ. This was their first step of obedience out of love for the one who saved them from eternal condemnation. When they took the first step, they proclaimed their resolve to walk in the ways of God. This first step is very important because unless they took the first step, they cannot take subsequent steps. As church, we will pray for these dear ones to continue walking in faith.
Christian life begins with a step of faith and it must lead to a walk of faith. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight. Walking suggests that there is progress in our lives. God wants that we make progress in Christian life. He does not want us to remain at the kindergarten level by drinking milk always. We must leave the elementary teachings about repentance, baptism, resurrection from the dead, eternal judgement, etc., and go on to maturity. These basic teachings are important, but they are like foundation of a building. God wants that we build on it. Our Christian life should not be like a building with only foundation and no super structure.
Christian life is also compared to a race and it starts the moment a person is born again. We must run the race according to the set rules. How one runs this race is very important. We have a goal to reach that goal is to conform to the image of Jesus Christ. God has predestined us to be like Jesus. We are exhorted to run the race looking at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We are the followers of Christ, which means we must follow His footsteps.
Paul says we should not live like the Gentiles do (Eph.4:17). Once we were in the kingdom of darkness, but have been brought into the kingdom of light. Therefore, our walk will be different from our earlier walk. We must walk in the light of the Word of God. Prophet Isaiah says “Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord”(Isa.2:5).
Walking needs strength and God gives us strength as we trust in Him. Not only that God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in our walk, He has also promised His grace to help us continue walking in His ways.
May God give us His grace and strength to walk as Enoch walked with God, who at the end stepped into the presence of God!
Yours in Christ
Pastor M. A. Jacob
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