Do You Know God

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matt. 22:37)

​I meet people all the time who tell me they are Christian, that they said the “sinner’s prayer” and were baptized.  And yet, after getting to know them, it becomes evident that there is little to no evidence of the transforming power of the gospel in their lives.  There is no discernable difference between how they live and how the rest of the world lives.  But Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind,” and then he says in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  Love for God manifests itself in a life lived out in obedience to God’s word.  This does not mean that we earn our way to heaven.  Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  No good works are necessary.  However, as the Reformers were so fond of saying, “Salvation is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.”  If we have truly acknowledged our sin to God, if we have truly experienced remorse for our sin and have repented from those sins, and if we have truly believed and embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ for ourselves, then we will have a natural heartfelt desire to study God’s word, to know God, and to live in obedience to God’s word and for the glory of Christ.  Once we comprehend what Christ has done for us, the true believer cannot help but desire to pour himself or herself out in service to Christ.