Purified your souls in obeying the truth
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently
Let's break this down-
Obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
You obey the truth through the Spirit, this is how it is done. Obeying TRUTH. That truth then leads you to…
unfeigned love of the brethren.
Therefore you…
love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Obeying truth leads to love. We know God is love, and Jesus, as one of the Gods we serve said that He is …the way, the TRUTH, the life.
People get confused and believe they can love without obeying truth. They've separated love into its own entity beyond truth. They claim love is Jesus, so love as Jesus loves but they don't comprehend that Jesus lived a life of PURE TRUTH. Jesus lived truth, because He is truth. Now, what is this truth that is Jesus? First what does the word truth even mean?
It means the state of being true. True means in accordance with fact or reality. A fact is something proved true. Reality means things as they actually exist.
Obeying truth, the reality of Jesus and all that He is in every facet.
Recently I had a discussion with someone about Jesus and the Royal Law, the Ten Commandments, and how Jesus didn't do away with a single one of them, they were all a part of His truth. He did clarify them, the ones that people were finding a bit difficult such as adultery, and murder. What had to be clarified about these? The fact that in your mind and in your heart you can sin without committing the actual act of adultery or murder. Fantasizing about sex outside of your marriage is, in truth, adultery. Desiring to murder someone is holding the hatred inside without letting it out and it is as if you had murdered them.
People say, "No! That's not true! I may have wanted to have sex with that other person, but I didn't I stopped myself from doing it. I wanted to kill that person, but I restrained myself because I knew it was wrong. I did not sin, I did not commit adultery or murder!" They are correct in that they did not physically go through with the acts of sin, BUT unless they repented of those lusts that they indulged in their minds and STOPPED altogether lusting to have sex outside their marriage or murder someone, it's still consuming a part of their heart.
Recognizing our sins in our thoughts is very important! If people recognize the sin in their thoughts more there would be a lot less physical actions towards those sins.
How many actual adulterers spend a lot of time fantasizing about committing adultery only to end up actually doing it, and the same with murder. How many people get consumed by murdering someone- planning it over and over, telling themselves they wouldn't do it, and there is no harm in thinking about it, but then the line is crossed over into the physical action? By definition, murder is planned. When a person allows themselves to hate without censure consoling themselves with the fact they aren't sinning in action, they are only fooling themselves.
Jesus told us we can sin in our thoughts and indulging our thoughts of sin is in fact… a sin.
Jesus also went on to tell the rulers in the church of his day that they had put too many restrictions on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant to be a blessing not a burden, not nitpicking at every single action committed. They had the audacity to believe healing someone on the Sabbath was wrong! Jesus told them it was a good thing to do on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a beautiful institution given to mankind out of love and the rules and regulations went far beyond what God intended in the lessens He was teaching us of love. Loving Him and loving others.
Are the Ten Commandments truth that Jesus lived? Yes, they are. They are a part of the revelation of His love.
As a parent we put restrictions on our children to protect them, restrictions with consequences should those restrictions be ignored. We don't put restrictions on our children because we hate them and want them to suffer. We do it because we love them and want to teach them things that are good for them because they are unable as children to comprehend the things that could be harmful to them.
We are forever Children of God and He too wants to protect us, to teach us, to guide us. To say the guidelines have been done away with would be ludicrous, especially when they were guidelines Jesus himself endorsed.
People confuse the doing away with 'laws' and not being 'under the law' as meaning the Ten Commandments are obsolete. Ceremonial laws were in place that were definitely done away with when we learned that only through Jesus we are save by grace and not offering our own sacrifices as if that can save us.
Laws exist so that the punishment is known for the ones who would break the laws. Those keeping the laws and not desiring to break them, and have no reason to fear any punishment. I don't live a life in fear of being caught stealing- because I don't steal. Because I don't steal doesn't mean the law should be abandon. The law is there for everyone to know there are consequences to their actions should they choose to disobey. You aren't guilty of being a thief if you've never stolen anything, you aren't under that law, it's not pointing you out to be guilty- because you're not.
Obeying the truth- nothing but the truth- all the truth that is Jesus, living love, that is Jesus. Don't strip Jesus' life down to his living as he pleased without any regard to anyone or anything. Jesus lived his life as His declared Father could approve and He lived it perfectly, resisting every single temptation He encountered and not consenting to a single one.
Love. Obeying the truth through the Spirit--- causing unfeigned love of other, causing true, genuine love for others, loving each other with a pure heart fervently! God is love! He loves us fervently.
1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
We KNOW we love the children of God WHEN we love God and KEEP his commandments! Not my words, God's word!
Luke {10:25} And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
{10:26} He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
{10:27} And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
{10:28} And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
Thou has answered RIGHT, THIS DO and thou shalt live!
1 John {4:7} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
{4:8} He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
{4:9} In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
{4:10} Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
{4:11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
{4:12} No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
{4:13} Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
{4:14} And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world.
{4:15} Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
{4:16} And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
{4:17} Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
{4:18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
{4:19} We love him, because he first loved us.
{4:20} If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
{4:21} And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
What do you suppose would happen if suddenly there was no profit at all in being a doctor? No profit at all. What if being a doctor earned you about as much as your average grocery clerk? Stay with me here, this is all hypothetical and we're not going to get into the cost of education and all that. Right now, all the doctors in the world have been forgiven all their educational debts so that's not an issue, neither is malpractice insurance, that's all gone too. They have no extraordinary debts or costs to pay out, no more than your average grocery clerk. How many people do you suppose would become doctors if there were no money in it? If it weren't for the prestige and wealth? How many?
It's easy to see today when you're shoved into a waiting room packed with people and have to wait hours just to get shoved into another room alone to wait some more. And then the doctor comes in and spends more time fiddling with their little computer looking at your records and fussing about than they do looking at you. Oh yes, it's easy to see that hurrying up and trying to diagnose you, the answer a pill or two, a blood test or four, a urine test here and a x-ray there, let's just see what's what as quick as possible there are many more cattle needing to be herded through the place before the day is over. Are we even real to these people? Maybe I'm being harsh, or maybe not harsh enough. All I know is it makes me wonder how many people go into the physician field solely for monetary reasons and in truth they care very little about the people they'll be treating.
I know we like to think that not many do that, and you may be thinking me totally wrong because you've got the best, most caring doctor ever, but the truth is it's not like that for everyone.
Loving your brother.
Love meaning caring more for them than yourself.
How often does that happen?
I saw evidence of it not too long ago when my daughter (2008) who has a bad back and numerous health issues started pushing the car of a stranded woman to help her out. I was floored. I was a little angry too, how dare she do such a thing, didn't she know she could hurt herself more! She obviously felt helping the stranded woman was more important than worrying about her health. Stupid? I wanted to think so, but in truth isn't that what's important? Helping others and not caring about yourself?
All too often thoughts of self comes first- how does *this situation* affect me? Will I like this? Will it be an inconvenience to me? Do I have other plans? What's this to me? Self first, and if all is satisfactory on my end then maybe I can think of someone else.
God help me. God help us. Love has nothing to do with self. Nothing. Love has everything to do with others. Everything.
Love God. Love others.
There is No commandment to love yourself.
That ol' love others as yourself, doesn't mean loving yourself, it means love others as YOU would want to be loved.
If we had to love ourselves first and love others that way it would only be an obstacle especially for those that concentrate on loving themselves before they love others, there is nothing selfless in loving yourself. No, I'm not saying hate yourself. I'm saying self is important truly only in the sense that we do all we can to remain healthy and such so that we may respect our lives because God loves us and would have us love others. We're not here on earth to serve ourselves, but to serve God and others.
Mark {8:35} For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
John {15:9} As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
{15:10} If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
{15:11} These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.
{15:12} This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
{15:13} Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
{15:14} Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command
1 John {3:16} Hereby perceive we the love [of God,] because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.
{3:17} But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
{3:18} My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
{3:19} And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him
Amen. (Revised from Nov. 29, 2008)
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