His Way ...

Tuesday, July 14, 2015. How is it to live with the Lord? What is it like to live in faith, to experience the community of the Holy Spirit? There is a lot to learn, a lot to find, a lot to experience. The whole bible communicates the invitation: come! Believe! Find out how it is to live with the eternal God, the creator of all what is!

Purity …

Paul writes in the 2nd letter to the Corinthians:

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. (2 Cor 6,6)

As Christians we know that we do not fully meet his standards. We are not as pure as we would like to be, not as patient, not as kind. We also know about the conflicts, and that there are moments where we fail to do what we should do.

Also, we need to be careful: the purity Paul talks about is a purity of heart. It cannot be reached by rules. It cannot be reached by putting constraints on people. God wants us to come to him by free will. He wants us to do things by choice, just because we are good or we want to follow him as we trust him. Faith cannot be imposed onto someone, you have to choose yourself!

He is there …

One important thing: Christian ethics is not just ethics. It never is. If you try to make it just ethics, it fails. It becomes a set of rules which looses its foundation. Its foundation is the Lord himself, his love, his spirit, his truth and his presence. I think you can only follow Christian ethics, if you live with him and if his spirit fills your heart and your mind.

So it is crucial to live with the Lord. If you have never given your life into his hands, if you never told him that you trust him, that he should come into your life, that he should be your Lord, your God, your guide - how can you expect that you can live according to his ethics?

God is a fantastic companion. He can be the iron ruler - but only for those who do evil and continue to do evil. When you find his forgiveness in Christ Jesus, you come to his tenter sides. You experience his care, his support, his unbelievable goodness and love. Come, and you will find! Enter faith. And find treasures beyond measure. (RWEP) ... more texts