A Prepared Bride 8 – Loving God Intellectually

Loving God intellectually!

Almost all of us have gone to camp at one time or another and sung that old favorite,

“I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back,
No turning back.”

Joshua confronted the ever wavering Israelites by issuing this challenge in Josh 24:14-15,

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." NIV

Serving God is a matter of choice. We must choose to love God. It does not come naturally. The kinds of things that come naturally are listed by Paul.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality (adultery and fornication), impurity (sensuality, malice and excess) and debauchery (unrestrained shamelessness); idolatry (the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will*) and witchcraft (sorcery, use of drugs or manipulation); hatred (hostility, enmity, the opposite of love), discord (quarreling, contention, strife), jealousy (envy, indignation), fits of rage (fierce wrath, uncontrolled anger), selfish ambition (looking out for number 1 at the cost of all else), dissensions (to stir up to sedition and rebellion), factions (a self-willed opinion that leads to division and the formation of sects**) and envy (the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others**); drunkenness (alcoholism, habitual intoxication), orgies (uncontrolled behavior resulting from drunkenness, riots), and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21 NIV

I did not have to teach my children to lie. They knew how to do that instinctively. I have to teach my children to speak the truth. Why do laws exist? Because without rules, without boundaries, we would have anarchy – an absence of government, a state of lawlessness and disorder. Laws exist to keep human nature in check. Left unchecked, human beings will inevitably return to the description Paul gave us above. No matter how cute and cuddly that little baby may seem, it is a sinner with a rebellious heart and unregenerate spirit who must one day, like all of us, decide to follow Jesus.

However, it is not just a one time thing. Granted, we receive forgiveness and eternal life when we choose to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but we must decide each day and many times during each day to follow His will.

Paul exhorts us.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Phil 2:12-13 NIV

Our salvation is not based on works but it does need to be worked out into our daily lives.

Jesus told HIs discipled, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 NIV

And the writer of Hebrews reminds us.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:

"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."
Heb 3:12-15 NIV

We will encounter crossroads many times where we must decide whether we will follow Jesus or not. We must choose to do what is right. We must obey His Word and choose not to be angry or vengeful. We must decide not to wallow in self-pity. We choose not to gossip about a neighbor.

In each of these situations, we are loving God intellectually. We are worshipping Him with our minds. We are maintaining that wall which keeps strife, dissension, fear (which is the opposite of faith) and chaos at bay.

Again, as Joshua challenged the Israelites,

Choose you, this day, whom you will serve!

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

*from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft
** from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers