Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Judah did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel.”
(1 Kings 14:22-24)

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love. Follow after love”
(1 Corinthians 13:11-14:1a)

The hallmark of David’s life was that he obeyed God’s commands as written in the scriptures (the Torah), obeyed when God spoke to him, and followed God with all his heart. Did he do it perfectly? No! Did he do wrong things (sins and iniquities)? Yes! But he was quick to repent when it was pointed out to him. David WANTED and STROVE to be aligned with God’s moral character. With God’s point of view. David’s dearest wish was to think like God thought and to recognize what God thought was good. David wanted to embrace God’s point of view so closely that he would only be able to do that which God recognized as right. David wasn’t perfect, but he strove hard and almost succeeded from God’s point of view (1 Kings 15:5). The kings of Israel and Judah were NOT following this example. They were falling away. They were forgetting the character of God. They were leaving His yard. They were turning their backs on Him, and as a result, they were scorning His protection, guidance, and BLESSING.

There is only one way to try and strive like David strove. There is only one way to pursue God. That is with LOVE. We have to love God. If we remember God is love (1 John 4:7-21), and so His character IS love, then we should respond to His love with our own. It is easy to forget what real love is. Love without agenda. Love without bias. Love separate from passion or feeling. That divine choice to love because the object of that love is lovable. To become mature because we are choosing to pursue God in love. Not to let go of His guidance, correction, and teaching because we KNOW it is the truth. To keep God first and always walk toward Him – no matter how many times we stumble.

Summary

This is maturing in the Lord: falling in love with Him. Not simply being thankful for what He’s done (important to do), but thinking beyond that to why God did it in the first place. Because He loves us. Putting Him first because we love Him and pursuing that love is how we develop our character in Him. To discover the depth of Jesus’ love for us and to seek to love Him with the same intensity. Sure, we’re not going to be perfect. Sure, we’re not going to be right all the time. We will miss it. We aren’t perfect. But if we seek to move ever forward and not to let our mistakes turn our heads, we’ll do well. Getting God’s point of view into our hearts and focusing our minds on what HE sees is right, proper, and good. THAT is how we pursue love. That is how we pursue God. And if we seek Him, He’ll be found by us (Jeremiah 29:13).