What Do I Do To Earn God's Love?

Is it possible that God can love us when we are bad people and do bad things to others? Is there something we should do to ensure God's love to us? Do we need to start some program of religion to earn the love of God?

"He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of this glorious grace which he has freely give us in the one he loves." Ephesians 1:5-6, NIV.

PREDESTINED
Since God is all-knowing he knew that creating mankind would result in his own sacrifice on the cross to pay for the rebellion of mankind.  Yet it is a marvel of love that with such complete knowledge God went ahead and created the world and the people in it- even knowing they would become rebels against him.

There are many questions about the relationship of man to God, but much is clear; first that God not only had foreknowledge of man's rebellion, and even so He already had love for mankind.  It was part of God's plan that he would love each of us even to his own death on our behalf.

     * Before we repent God already loved us.
     * Before we serve him God already loved us.
     * Before we worship him God already loved us.
     * Before we were born God already loved us.

ADOPTION
When we come to God through Jesus we are not only saved from our sin's judgment and hell's eternal torment we are brought into a relationship with the Father.  He not only sees us as His servants and members of His kingdom but He adopts us into sonship as his heirs.

SONSHIP
As far as God is concerned we have the same rights and privileges before him as His son.  We are not on the outside in any sense of the word- we are more than ever inside the place of God's favor.  We are royalty in the kingdom of God.  This is love to the extreme.  He holds nothing back.

HIS PLEASURE
God is not like us and is not motivated like we are.  He is pleased to share Himself with us.  He is happy to give blessings to those who accept His salvation.  We can't understand why a mighty God would give so much to rebels and transgressors but it is something we can be thankful for.

Nothing we can do will make God love us more than he already does, but if we have rejected his salvation we will not experience or know that love personally.  He invites us to grace through his son Jesus.

To learn more about how to become a child of God follow this link: Click Here.

(c)Adron Dozat

How To Love. Ephesians 5:2

Jesus gives the ultimate example of love. What would sum up his example of how to love? The Bible suggests an answer to this question.

"And live a life of love, just as Christ has loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2, NIV*.

A LIFE OF LOVE
To live a life of love is a wonderful idea but what is it? Today love has become polluted and is associated with what one can get; love has become all about me and my feelings. It has become cheap, common, and little.

THE LOVE OF JESUS
The Lord did not live a life of seeking gratification, he lived a life of service and sacrifice; this defines Jesus' love. The verse above refers to his love as a past tense. The past tense points out that his love is proved and evidenced by the history of actions. There are things to look at in the life of Jesus which say this action is love.

HE GAVE HIMSELF
His life was not taken it was given; the death of Jesus on the cross was not an accident, but he gave himself freely. It was on purpose that the Lord left heaven to take on human flesh as a baby to become a man that would die as a substitute for our sins.

WHAT IS SO FRAGRANT?
A fragrant offering is one that is acceptable and pleasing to God. It is one that fully satisfies the requirements of holiness, meaning when Jesus died for our sins it was enough- no more is needed to answer the judgment of God.

Jesus' love compelled him to become a servant and he did what no other servant could do, he paid for the sins of mankind. We will never fully appreciate the depth and awesomeness of that act. All of God's judgment against each man's sin entirely came upon Jesus as he hung on the cross.

OUR PART
For salvation there is no "our part," he did it all, we cannot add to it improve it or make it better. We simply accept by faith what Jesus did on our behalf as our savior. When we trust Jesus as savor he comes into our lives and gives us the power to love as he did.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING
"And live a life of love..." These words are words of commitment, not an accident. We must partner with God's Spirit in us by resolving to live a life of love. We must decide to love and seek sacrificial acts of love to perform.

If you are interested in learning more about how to have Jesus' love in your life follow this link: Click Here.

To read this verse in other translations follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

© Adron 12/25/12

Is God's Love Beyond Our Understanding? Ephesians 3:17,18

Is God's Love Beyond Understanding?

Can we know God's love?  Is it beyond our understanding?  Is God's love a phantom of religion but never a solid reality?


"And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." Ephesians 3:18*. NIV.*


This quote is an excerpt from a prayer the Apostle prayed for the churches he helped found.  One would think his prayer would be, "I pray for you to have correct doctrine," or "I pray for you to have visions," or "I pray for you to be safe from persecution." Instead his prayer is for them to have power to understand the love of Christ. The love of Christ is not like the cultural love full of shallow passion portrayed in the media but a spiritual love.

FIRST WE MUST GET ROOTED
From the roots we draw nourishment; and we roots are our foundation, and stability. Without roots we wither, and we must draw deep in God to grow such roots.

To grow deep roots in love we should...
     * Spend time in prayer.
     * Spend time in His Word, the Bible
     * Spend time in serving him.
     * Spend time in fellowship with those who love him.
     * We should pray that we are rooted in love.

WE MUST BE ESTABLISHED
Something that is established is set in place it stands on its own and does not need support. Something that is established has a record in history, it happens over and over, it is the predictable behavior therefore it is established. This requires actions- actions of love.

GOD GIVES POWER
It is not strange that it takes spiritual power to appreciate Christ's love. Christ love exceeds our understanding of dimensions; it is wide, long, high, and deep. It goes in every direction it is beyond measure. No matter where you turn or go you will still face his love. Because his love is spiritual, holy and heavenly in origin it is beyond the scope of mortal earth bound humanity to perceive. To understand God's love we need him to reveal it to us.

ALL THE LORD'S HOLY PEOPLE
The love of Christ is not something we feel in our own little corner of the world; but it is meant for all the Lord's people we must have love for one another. Our love must cross borders and  boundaries of race, culture, class, or opinions.

If knowing God's love were not possible the Apostle would not have sought it for himself and others. Because Christ died to pay for our sins we can know God's love.

To learn more about finding God's love follow this link: Click Here.

To see other translations of this verse follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

(c)Adron Dozat

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Adron

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How Should Christians Prepare for Conflict Ephesians 6:11

God wants us to engage in doing good, but the world we live in seems to be bent on evil. With crime, addiction, broken homes, and broken hearts all around us, doing good sometimes puts a good Samaritan in the target zone of conflict. How do we do good and not fall as a victim of the evil we oppose?

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Ephesians 6:11, NIV*.

God Provides:
God has given us spiritual armor to fight against the darkness of the present world system. He has provided everything we need. He does not just say do good in my name and good luck while you are at it, no, he provides weapons for opposing evil, and the armor to withstand the attacks of wickedness.

Put it on:
The spiritual armor God provides to us is available to all but must be "put on. It is waiting to be taken up. At some point, we need to say I will wear the helmet of salvation I will be shod with the shoes of righteousness I will pick up the shield of faith. We cannot wander through the enemy's camp of this world without wearing the armor and survive spiritually. We cannot assume we have it in place.

The armor must be worn in its fullness; the breastplate without the helmet is not good since it exposes us to a head wound, or if you have a helmet but no sword you will be hard-pressed to gain victory. We are offered a complete set of armor; it is foolish to fail to wear it all.

The Intent of Armor:
We don't wear armor so we can go to a beauty pageant and show off our armor. We are given armor and weapons for warfare. It is expected that we are going to fight the battles of the Lord.

The Game Plan:
We only need to stand against the devil's schemes, there is little about tactics in Ephesians 6 except prayer and the word of God. The victory is already won; we in faith pray and claim victory. We are to take our stand, in ancient warfare soldiers stood side by side in ranks to face the enemy to take your stand is to hold your ground.

There is no armor like God's armor. We have nothing that will equal it. It is perfectly suited to the battle against evil in such a way that no man-made armor is.

I recommend a reading of the entire chapter of Ephesians 6 to learn more about this subject.

To read this in other translations follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

(c)Adron Dozat

Can We Be Thankful for Everything? Ephesians 5:20

Can we give thanks for everything? It is easy to give thanks for the good, the happy circumstances, or prosperity. When we feel happy and grateful for blessings we find giving thanks to be natural, but when bad things happen can we still give thanks?

"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20. NIV.

EXCEPTIONAL

Always giving thanks. Ephesians 5:20

This verse uses both words, always and everything, and that combination teaches an attitude of thankfulness that is unnatural to the common person.  To be thankful in all circumstances, good and bad, is more than character or emotion- it is a conviction.  The words always and everything includes bad events and sorrows.

Thankfulness in itself is a pleasant quality in a person, but thankfulness directed to God the Father is saintly. To focus thankfulness to the author of the circumstances in our lives we raise the affairs of daily circumstances and life's milestones to divine interest and holy activity.

GOD
Since God is sovereign He has right, power, and will to exercises His control over circumstances in the world he created, therefore the events of our lives are in his control. Since God is good the events of our lives ought to be good. The finite mind of man cannot comprehend the infinite mind of an all-knowing and all-wise God, so it must by faith in the truth that He is good that we know He must have a good purpose in the seemingly bad events of our lives.

People may see evil as evidence that God is weak, indifferent, or capricious. These views ignore the gospel of redemption where God came in bodily form as Jesus to die on the cross and buy redemption for mankind. His death seemed the act of evil yet the purposes of God were for this very tragedy to be the basis of salvation by His substitution of himself as payment for our sins. God has given us free will where we may sin or choose Him.

GOOD
Knowing that God is good we must believe that whatever happens in our lives is motivated by His goodness; even if we do not understand the circumstances we do understand (even only if just slightly) the goodness of God, so we can be thankful for everything- the good and painful.  We must hold on to the view that God is good; this is the basis of noble thinking. To be thankful for everything becomes the basis of noble living. To give thanks is the basis of noble doing.

We must always give thanks.  There is little that creatures created by God can give to God. Strangely he wants is our thanks which we are able to give.

(c)Adron Dozat

How To Pray For A Friend Ephesians 3:19

The apostle Paul gives us many examples of prayer, and in one makes some beautiful requests for his friends- beautiful but not shallow.

"And to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:19, NIV.

IT IS THE BEST
You can pray many things for a person, but the best is that they know the love that comes from God: forgiving, patient, sacrificial, fatherly, kind, and more than we can contemplate here.

This love surpasses knowledge; it is big beyond the limits of our capacity to contain it. If you sum up all of your knowledge, it would not approach the volumes yet to know about God's love. Yet it must be knowable, or else the apostle would not pray that the Christians would experience that love.

Ephesians 3:18

KNOW
"Know" has many meanings. There is "to know," as with your mind, the intellectual knowledge of learning and study. We should all strive to learn about God, read His Word, and learn from others what they know about God. "Know" can be used as the knowledge of experience, the intimate knowledge that comes from a relationship with God. If all you know about God's love is from books, you will have shallow knowledge. If all you know about God's love is from experience, it will be sentimental and immature. The knowing of God's love must have a balance of both learning from His revelation to us and learning from his relationship with us.

GOD'S LOVE
Some do not know God's love. They have not come to God through the loving work of his Son, Jesus, on their behalf when he died for their sins on the cross. In rejecting the ultimate expression of love, they reject the ultimate love in their lives.

Even those of us who have come to God and have a relationship with him are far from understanding the depths of his love for us.  We need God to show us and teach us the dimensions of his love.  We need to make it a priority and a goal to know his love, experience it, and share it.

As we pray for our friends, we should earnestly pray that they come to know God's love more deeply and personally. If we do not know God's love ourselves, we need to pray and ask God that we may know it.

(c)Adron Dozat 11/21/11

How to Please God. Psalm 69:30

What does it take to please God?  We know we should, but how? Thankfully this Bible verse gives us the answer.

"I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.  This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs." Psalm 69:30,31 NIV.

We think God would be pleased if we did great things like building a hospital or funding an orphanage. There is nothing wrong with great charitable acts, except most of us can't do them. At best, we feel we can only do a little something and say to ourselves, "Oh well, it is a little something for God, and I hope it is OK."

GOD'S STANDARDS
God's values are different from ours. Our world is a shadow of the true reality; there is much more to understand about God. We are confused by worldly standards; He is more pleased with songs of praise and prayers of thanks than millions of dollars given in his name.

It is right to do good works to honor God (not confused with earning salvation since salvation is a gift and can't be bought or earned, see Ephesians 2:8, 9, and Titus 3:5). We think God wants grand monuments, but he wants our hearts and expressions of love and gratitude. This is possible for anyone who knows God, not only the rich and well-off.

WORSHIP
God treasures the expressions of worship and gratitude and esteems them above donations, gifts, and wealth. God's Word is a revelation that clarifies that He desires our worship and obedience over gifts and sacrifices; we are commanded many times to give our gifts and sacrifices, but we must remember that heartfelt worship is more pleasing to God than cash.

CONTEMPLATIVE PRAISE
A gift may be done coldly and absently, especially in the age of tax deductions where a gift may actually favor us with tax returns. Praise and worship differ from all other giving; it's natural causes a different level of personal involvement; we actually have to think about God, draw conclusions of what God has done for us, and respond. In worship, we grow spiritually and closer with our Creator. Worship goes beyond the actions of sacrifice and brings us closer to God's purpose with mankind- a relationship.

Let us continue to give gifts and sacrifices to the Lord more than ever, but better than that, let us do more and more songs to the Lord and give him thanksgiving, for this will please the Lord most.

(c) Adron 10/29/11