“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) My wonderful wife brought this verse into the context of our conversation this morning in regards to what our actions and attitudes are to be towards the lost, and it gave me pause to ponder another issue on the same topic, those of the commandments of God laid before His children.
There are places in the Scriptures where Paul writes, by the power of the Spirit of God, that are suggestions, where he says, “ I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.” (2 Cor. 8:8) These are suggestions, and good suggestions that the man of God should adhere to when they become applicable in his life, “as the Spirit leads,” we like to call them. Every one of us that are the called know these moments, when by faith we must move forward, when our actions are based on the generalities of the Scriptures, and not the specific commandments with them. It is there where we must make the decision, is it good what we are about to do, and if we do it not, will it become sin to us. These are difficult moments in the born-again believers life, for there is much good to choose from, should you give financially to all the well thought out and prayed over continuously Christ-centered organizations, you would soon find yourself destitute, if you devote all of your time to these same organizations, you would find sleep a sought after pleasure. It is why we are commanded to be good stewards of what we have been blessed with, but we can only spread ourselves so thin.
It is the commandments of our Lord that we are to adhere ourselves to first, if we do not that which we have been commanded to do, we will find ourselves not only unprofitable servants, but as Provers 15:3 says, we will find ourselves sinning in the eyes of the Lord. “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37) this is a fourfold commandment in one, and it is not to be taken lightly, it encompasses the entirety of our being, we are known by our heart, (1 Sam. 16:7) in patience we are to possess our souls, (Luke 21:19) our minds are to always be held captive for Christ, (2 Cor. 10:5) our very strength to serve is a gift from God Almighty. (1 Peter 4:11) It is our own selfish priorities that we place ahead of the commandments of God, He has become for many a “when I find time for Him” God, many do not obey Him because they have chosen to obey themselves first, and in doing so they are not doing good, but instead are committing the sin of idolatry.
This is what occurs in the lives of some of the followers of Jesus Christ on a regular basis, this is what happens when we do not die to self. When we place anything before Christ, we are not doing good, we know we should, but for a plethora of reasons known as viable only to ourselves, we do not the good, and so we lay in sin, the Christian who knows how to repent knows these truths quite well, but others have decided just to live with the facts, to bury these occurrences as unworthy to be recognized, “the Lord understands” or “I’ll try better next time” are the generalized responses, but they are as shallow in their truth as the faith of the one who speaks these words is.
The commandments of Christ were given to us so that we might be sure on our path, the path that is meant in all ways to glorify God, those who obey them He will call His friends, those who do not He will not. (1 John 2:4) Those who obey show by their obedience to Him their love, (John 14:23) those who do not are showing something, but it is not love.
There is an opportunity to glorify God everyday placed before us, the opportunity to do good, and when that good is done in faith, the step of faith that we all must take often, then we have fulfilled the verse in 1 Tim. 6:12, but when we fail to do the good, our fellowship with Him is broken, our spirits become downtrodden, and true repentance is the only way out. Our hearts must be prepared at all times, we must use our spiritual senses, we must be open to the calling of the Holy Spirit at every moment, if you desire to do good for the glory of God, then opportunities will be placed before you, be attentive, be in prayer, fulfill your duties to Him, and you will find the rewards plentiful.
