God creates an environment that is conducive to change. This daily devotional looks at how that environment includes love, desire, and joy.
Nuggets
- Because we are recipients of God’s unchanging love, He creates the environment conducive to change.
- Disciples’ desire should be the eternal life we gain through salvation.
- Disciples are to find joy in fulfilling the laws and commandments of God.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the On Things Above series
The good thing about doing devotions from sermon outlines is it is easier to fit them into the topic I am doing. The bad thing is that, sometimes, I have no clue about what they were trying to get across.
Case in point. We are going through a sermon by Beveridge entitled Setting the Affections on Things Above.
This section of the outline says:
“III. WHAT BY AFFECTIONS?
“1. The understanding and meditation.
“2. The will and affections.
“(1)Love.
“(2)Desire.
“(3)Joy.”
Resource
Here is my take.
In order to change, we have to understand Who God is. We have to meditate on how His character is different from ours.
The change isn’t going to occur if we don’t meditate. Just reading God’s Word isn’t going to do it. We have to apply it to our walk and see what actions we need to take.
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God’s Word has to touch us. That is where the love, desire, and joy come into play. When we experience those, they will help us to make needed change. Let’s dig into them.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
When we look up the definition of affection in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it says, “the state of being affected.” Affect means “to act on and cause a change in (someone or something).”
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Being Changed through Love
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph. 3: 17 ESV)
Because we are recipients of God’s unchanging love, He creates the environment conducive to change.
God uses His Word to encourage us. Payson wrote that He does this “by assurances of God’s everlasting, unchanging love, and of His gracious designs respecting her. He has formed an unalterable determination to save her.”
Resource
Zephaniah said that God “… will quiet you by his love …” (Zech. 3: 17 ESV). We need the quiet in this chaotic world. That will help us to focus on Him.
Lord, I Have Shut the Door
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
As we focus on Him, we can see the areas in which God is working. We know, because of His love, He is working all things out for His and our good (Rom. 8: 28).
Wait a minute. That isn’t what the King James Version said. It translated it as “… he will rest in his love …” (Zeph. 3: 17 KJV emphasis added).
That puts a totally different spin on it. God is the One Who is resting. He is calmly watching over us in love.
God isn’t stressing over what is happening. We need to remember that He is omniscient. He is also unchanging.
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That means God’s love for us will never change. Yes, God is going to love us regardless of our actions.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
But we can’t use that as an excuse not to change. We can’t read the New International Versions’ translation of “… in his love he will no longer rebuke you …” (Zeph. 3: 17 NIV) as a license to keep on sinning.
We aren’t playing Monopoly. We don’t get a Pass Go card at conversion.
In fact, it is just the opposite. “For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child” (Heb. 12: 6 NLT). When we sin, God doesn’t turn a blind eye.
Who are God’s children? “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (Jn. 1: 12 ESV).
Glossary
Because He loves us, God wants us to change from our sinful ways.
Being Changed through Desire
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Prov. 13: 12 ESV)
Disciples’ desire should be the eternal life we gain through salvation.
Okay. One sermon.
Arnot told us that the “‘tree of life’ belongs only to the hope of the holy.”
Resource
- The tree of life was mentioned first in Genesis 2: 9 as being in the Garden of Eden. In Revelation 2: 7, it says that only the ones who conquer will receive its fruit to eat.
- Hope is a future expectation, called a living hope, based on the confidence that our names will be found in the book of life.
- Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
The fruit of the tree of life will only be given to those who have been set apart and perfected because they are morally pure and have their names written in the book of life.
That means the disciples who have navigated the Sanctification Road and had their character changed to that of God’s will be rewarded for their obedience to God.
Glossary
Look what else Arnot said. He wrote, “Many, after waiting long, and expecting eagerly, discover, when at last they reach their object, that it is a withered branch and not a living tree. There is no peace to the wicked.”
Resource
That ties with Matthew 7: 21. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7: 21 ESV).
The will of God is that we change our character to be like His. We are to become holy and set apart so that we can be perfected.
If we don’t, we will be the ones saying, “Lord, Lord.”
Being Changed through Joy
“The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living” (Ps. 19: 8 NLT)
Disciples are to find joy in fulfilling the laws and commandments of God.
The Holman Bible Dictionary defined joy as “the happy state that results from knowing and serving God.”
Resource
Sowden gave us instructions on how to find that joy. He wrote, “Two things are necessary ill (sic) order to produce true and rational joy in the human mind, namely, objects suited to its faculties, and faculties in proper disposition to receive impressions from them. In each of these views the Holy Scriptures, as they contain the Divine laws, are calculated to produce this happy temper.”
Resource
- We have to know what these statutes (i.e. laws and commandments) are.
- We have to use those statutes to change our disposition — our temperamental makeup.
Scriptures were written so that we could know the laws and commandments, they could change us, and we could receive the joy.
These laws and commandments are not going to change — no matter how much the worldview people think they should. God has decreed what is a sin and what is not. That isn’t going to change.
Hankinson reminded us that the laws are pure. That means they do not have the stain of sin.
Resource
I had to laugh at what Talmage said. He wrote, “Many of the national libraries are merely the cemeteries of dead books. Some were virtuous, and accomplished a glorious mission. Some went into the ashes through inquisitorial fires.”
Resource
The Bible will never be a dead book in a library cemetery. It will be a living, breathing document that prophesies the future — until that prophecy is fulfilled.
What does Scriptures tell us?
- Man sinned against God, making mankind sinners.
- We need to admit we have been separated from God.
- We have to believe that Jesus is our Savor and Redeemer and the only way our relationships with God will be restored.
- We have to confess that God is Sovereign God and in control of all things.
- We have to live our lives demonstrating that commitment by navigating the Sanctification Road so that we become holy and pure.
This is what God wants. What did Zephaniah say? “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph. 3: 17 ESV).
Why is God rejoicing? He is rejoicing in our salvation.
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with good and eternal life.
- The consequences of sin are spiritual death and physical separation from God.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Eternal life is the promise of living eternally – even if we have died in this life – because we have admitted our sins, believed Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Jay gave a really good description of salvation. He wrote, “Salvation includes redemption from the curse of the law, deliverance from the powers of darkness, freedom from the sting of death, release from the dominion and being of sin.”
Resource
Making the Connections
Wow! We covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. So, let’s recap.
- God’s love for us will never change. Yes, God is going to love us regardless of our actions. But we can’t use that as an excuse not to change.
- The will of God is that we change our character to be like His. We are to become holy and set apart so that we can be perfected. If we don’t, we will be the ones saying, “Lord, Lord.”
- The disciples who have navigated the Sanctification Road and had their character changed to that of God’s will be rewarded for their obedience to God.
- Scriptures were written so that we could know the laws and commandments, they could change us, and we could receive the joy.
How Do We Apply This?
In order to become children of God, we have to admit that mankind was separated from God after the original sin, making us sinners; believe Jesus paid the penalty for those sins to become our Savior and Redeemer; confess God as Sovereign God; and demonstrate that commitment by submitting to living our lives following His laws and commandments.
Once we do that, we need to faithfully navigate the Sanctification Road. We do that by seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
We won’t be alone navigating the Sanctification Road. God will be there guiding us and doing the changing. We can count on Him.
Father God. We do put our faith and trust in You. Change us, Lord. We don’t want to be sinful creatures. We want to be pure and holy, as You are. Amen.
What do you think?
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