STRIVING
God is Love. The First Book of John Chapter 4 Paragraph 8 states that God is Love. Genesis Chapter 1 Paragraph 27 states that God created man in His image. Since God is Love and created us from His image we are all therefore created by and because of God�s Love. Out of His Love we were made and given the breath of life. Sin created the chaotic rift that tore man from the perfection of God�s Eternal Love and Existence. However it is His same Love which created us, that mends and rejoins our lives with the true existence that was ultimately meant for us. Jesus Christ therefore embodies and manifests the Love of God. He is the Truth and the Way through which that Love is shown and given. In John Chapter 15 Paragraph 9 through 12 Jesus commissions us to love one another as He has loved us. And in doing so we shall remain in His Love so that our joy may be complete. Thinking back to when I first began my journey, I thought about what it was that sparked my commitment. I realized that for a very long time I have been saying, �I commit my life to You God� however have not done anything to show it nor even read the Bible. So I made a decision to do something with my commitment. I made a decision to read the Words of God and to do service and worship to Him through service and love of others. In deciding to act on my commitment, I further realized that in bringing service to God by spreading Faith and Love, I was opening my life and spirit to Him with the hope that He may use me as an instrument to His Will. I then became incredibly excited because of the close and personal relationship that had the potential to grow with Him. In committing your life to God, you are accepting Him in your heart and welcoming His Will to make change in your life and those around you. You become a beacon radiating with the joy of God�s undying Love, for others to see. Oftentimes I find that I go to work everyday to analyze and understand numbers. I often end the day with an understanding of what those numbers mean and represent. What if I were to spend all that time and energy into learning about and working for God? In the little time I have had to actually bring some form of service to Him, I have seen and felt the true Joy that resides with the Love of God. What kind of awareness and joy would I then have if I committed those 40+ hours a week working for God? Coming home the other day I prayed for one phrase or question that I could use to really help the message stick. I though about the Love I felt from God. This morning as I thought about what phrase I could use, I remembered something that I told myself several months ago as it relates truly feeling the Love of God. It is because of Jesus that we are able to feel the true Joy of God�s Love. Through His sacrifice He washed away our sins and made our spirits clean so that we may live in eternity with God. So the question that really drove the message deep is: �What would you be willing to give up in order to help bring someone to Jesus? We work so hard and use so much energy for the work of others or a company, when was the last time you did something solely for the purpose of serving God? What would you be willing to give to help others feel the true Joy of God�s undying Love? Would you give up your hobbies, possessions, or wealth? Would you be willing to give up your life so others may feel the Joy of God? He did.� In dealing with temptation and sin in our lives, the question is not how do I deal with the sins of the flesh through acts of the flesh. The question is how do I choose to live in the spirit despite the sins of the flesh. The root of the solution to dealing with sin is striving to literally remember and consciously think of our salvation in Jesus through the Spirit when we are tempted. Remove the temptation from your life and vision and replace it with the Love of God. It is not about dealing with the sin by ourselves. We alone cannot conquer sin. It is about choosing to live and remain in the Spirit through which, sin is already conquered for us. It is about choosing to live where sin is absent.
