My life today is shaped and driven by the knowledge that God loves me. That He stepped down from His place of honor in Heaven. In order to robe Himself in flesh and die a sinners death on a cross. All so that I could receive forgiveness from my sins and the free gift of salvation. While I was still lost in sin God was willing to make a way for me to be forgiven. Through God’s great grace, mercy, and unexplainable love I have been set free from the sins that once bound me. I know these things to be true because the Bible tells me they are. As well as the fact that I have experienced the change He has brought into my life first hand. Altering the way in which I live every day and driving me in directions I never thought I would go.
Philippians 2:6–8 (ESV)
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This knowledge has a direct impact on my life no longer do I live in the way I once lived. No longer am I driven by my own desires or the things of this world. But knowing all that God has done and is still doing for me is driving me to be better every day. No longer do I freely live in whatever brings me the most pleasure. Instead, I propose in my heart not to sin because I know all God did to save me. I understand that sin isn’t what pleases the Lord but in fact, brings dishonor to the one that loved me enough to die for me.
Psalm 5:4 (ESV)
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
Romans 8:8 (ESV)
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
I extend love to others because even when I didn’t deserve love God extended it to me. I’m willing to forgive others because the God I had sinned against so many times was always willing to forgive me. I serve God not because I feel I must but because after all He has done for me I want to do all I can do for Him. Scripture has caused a great deal of change in my life for the better. So I choose to let it keep shaping me and act as the driving force in my life. Guiding me down the right path and directing me away from sin.
John 13:34 (ESV)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Matthew 18:21 (ESV)
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Matthew 18:21 (ESV)
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
1 Samuel 12:24 (ESV)
24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.
1 John 3:16 (ESV)
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
I have told you what is driving me every day and reshaping my life, but what is having those effects on yours? Are you driven by what you have witnessed God do in your own life and made the decision to lay aside your own desires to complete His? Or are you driven by the things of this world and your own wants and passions?
You may say you know and believe those statements of faith I expressed above. As you should because if you have been saved you have experienced them all. But do they have an effect on the way your are living day to day? Do you think about all God has done for you and is still doing? Does that reflect in the way you live your life and interact with others?
Scripture does not call us to simply know the truth or to know of God but to act on that knowledge. Christians are instructed to be doers of the word. Jesus described those who both know and apply His teaching as wise. While describing those who know His word but chose to live their own way as fools.
1 John 3:16 (ESV)
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Matthew 7:24–27 (ESV)
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Don’t be foolish and live contrary to the truth you know in your heart instead allow it to reshape you and become the driving force in your life. Helping you to make the right decisions and live the life scripture has called you to live. As Christians, the knowledge we have of God should reveal itself in the way we live our lives. That’s doesn’t mean we will be perfect or that we won’t mess up. But it does mean that for the most part others should be able to see that God is the driving force in our lives. Making us who we are and shaping everything we do. Or you could say that through our actions God’s light shines through us showing to whom we belong.
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