They had been delivered out of bondage/slavery miraculously. They were led clearly by God, not man. ex; cloud by day and fire by night. God fed them daily. He was taking them to the promised land. Doesn't really sound like a lot of problems. Actually, seems like their lives were wonderful. But, let's examine closer and pay attention to how they responded. They grumbled and complained. It was uncomfortable out in the desert; understandably. Even though they were free, they wanted to go back. they were fed daily, yet complained about their provisions. God wanted to be in their presence, yet they were scared and had Moses go meet with God. Many rebelled against Moses, God's appointed leader. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. It would seem; so are we.
The people of God today are the body of Christ. While we are on this planet; He is the head and we are His body. His work on the cross has miraculously set us free from the bondage of sin and we are no longer slaves to its power. We are led by His Holy Spirit. God's word, written and spoken, is our daily bread. He has "rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son". Co1:13 Sound familiar? What else is familiar? We grumble and complain. Being free means that we are now responsible for our actions. This does not mean we are going to be condemned, but we will be held accountable. Matthew 22:37-40 tells us that loving the Lord is the greatest commandment and loving your neighbor as yourself is the 2nd. We're really good at loving ourselves, but fall short loving our neighbor. Let's take a look at these seemingly simple tasks.
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all with all your soul, and with all your mind." Vs 37. How do we love our Lord? What does Jesus say? In John 14:15 He tells us, "if you love Me, you will keep my commandments". There are a lot of way to show love to our Lord. How do we show love to our spouse or children. We spend time with them. We find out what is important in their lives and participate in these things with them. We actually want to do the things that are important to them. How sad if I didn't know what my wife and children enjoy. How much worse if I didn't enjoy with them. A one sided relationship is not a relationship. How often are we asking God to do our bidding or give us what we want? We expect Him to do everything for us and we really don't do anything for Him. We act as though God's existence is to serve us. We feel good about the token good deed we did, out of our convenience. Sometimes we even "sacrifice" our want to make someone else feel good. How many of us take the time to ask our Lord, what is on Your mind? What are You wanting to do? How can I bless You?
"The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." vs 39. Who is our neighbor? Luke 10 Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan. Our neighbor is the one in front of us. The Samaritan showed mercy. We are to be a people of mercy. Freely we have received, freely we are to give. Mercy looks past faults. Mercy forgives. Mercy encourages wholeness and releases healing. Mercy closes our mouths and opens our ears. Mercy is the fuel for love. If we focus on mercy, loving comes easy. Remember that we are talking about love as a verb, a choice, not a feeling. We choose to love especially when we don't feel like it.
As the body of Christ, let's line up with what the Head is doing. Let's choose to love and show mercy. Let's choose an attitude of thanksgiving. Let's choose to walk in humility and gentleness. Let's choose to walk in the freedom Jesus worked so hard to give us. Let's invite the conviction of God's mercy and walk in repentance. Repent from complaining. Repent from loving what the world has to offer. Let's love our Lord and one another. God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us. Let's walk into the promise land that God has for us.
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