The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Two Legs"
The Psalmist well knew his need for God to impart His strength for the enabling to love. He also knew his privileged responsibility to determine to love the Lord.
"I will love Thee, o Lord my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust" (Psalm 18:1-2).
We must journey on two legs spiritually, as it were, in order to love God. "I will love" must flow with "I will trust" if believers are to "walk in love" for our Heavenly Father (Ephesians 5:2). No amount of devotion, dedication, and determination on our part will result in our loving the Lord apart from His motivating and empowering work in us. However, no genuine love for God will ensue if we do not decisively choose to love Him. "Faith worketh by love" declared the Apostle Paul, who also bestowed the salutation of "faith with love" to the Ephesians (Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 6:23).
This is exactly what we would expect in fellowship with a relational God who made us in His image as relational beings. Believers must "trust in the Lord with all thine heart." However, we also must determine to love God if our devotion is to have any meaning to Him or to us. "I will freely sacrifice unto Thee" (Proverbs 3:5; Psalm 54:6). The presence of the indwelling Spirit of Christ in our spirits makes possible the energizing of our human faculties whereby He enables us to fulfill the first and great command: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Matthew 12:30). We may or may not respond to such grace, but the potential ever resides within us, making possible loving devotion to our Lord. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).
We would not want it any other way. God must be God, the One on whom we rely for all things. We must also be who He made us to be, those who love Him from the heart, and with active determinations of devotion. Surely, mystery accompanies the relationship as we more and more seek to discover God's part and our part in the fellowship of mutual love. Knowing that we both have parts, based on who our Lord is and who He redeemed us to be goes far on the two legs of "I will love" and "I will trust." Thereby we experience relationship with God, as empowered by His Spirit, informed by His Word, and illuminated by His heart shining in love within our hearts.
"And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
(I Timothy 1:14)
Weekly Memory Verse
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
(I Timothy 1:14)
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