James 2:19
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble...
So as we can see, simply knowing that there is a God, simply understanding that without Him, there is no life isn't good enough for, we must act on those beliefs. As we read through the second chapters of James, we can clearly see that Faith without works is dead; in other words, we can believe God for everything; however, if we do not act on that belief according to the Word of God, what good is it? and based on the Word of God found in James chapter two, works without faith is dead as well, and the same can be said about Grace as well...
God is full of Grace, Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, and a plethora of other wonderfully beautiful attributes; however, if we have received Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness, and Love from the father, through Jesus Christ, yet we have not reciprocated that love and emotion through our lives, and through our praise, and through our worship, what truly have we done? it would appear to me that we have not done anything more than attempt to mock the One True Living God. Now, I can hear it now, those who say that God's Grace is all forgiving and His love covers everyone in and on this earth, and to them, I say yes, that is absolutely true; however, the question or concern isn't wether or not God loves us, but rather, do we love God...
John 14:15,23
If ye love me, keep my commandments... Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him...
If we Love God, we will keep His commandments, this is the key statement right here, and the key word in this statement has only two letters, I and F, they spell out the word IF. You see, the fact that God loves us has long been established, the fact that He is merciful and full of grace has also been established; therefore, we can say with all honesty that no matter who you are and what you have done, God loves you and He will also love you. There is this attitude or mantra going around that because Jesus loves me, and because He already gave His life, and because He has already risen, then we can do whatever we want to do with no regard for others, nor any expectation of punishment, we simply declare that God is graceful and plan out our next round of sin; unfortunately, this is not how salvation truly works, once again, if we love God, we will keep His commandments...
Psalm 91:14-16
Because he (us) hath set his love upon Me, (God) therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation...
James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him...
Those that love God will be Blessed, but how does one show that he or she truly loves God? As we read in the second chapter of James, simply saying I believe isn't enough, for even the demons know that there is only one God. Perhaps by doing good things and treating everyone nicely we can show that God that we love Him; actually, no we cannot, once again if we continue to read in the James chapter two, we can see that good works are simply not enough to, there is another requirement. The book of Hebrews, specially chapter eleven, is often called the Faith Book due to the fact that it talks mainly about the importance of faith, and what faith actually is; however, in that chapter we also find a very important piece of information, and that is piece of information tells us exactly how to please God...
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him...
According to Hebrews chapter eleven and verse six, it is virtually impossible for us to please unless we believe that He is truly God, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him, so let's take a look at what it means to diligently seek God. According to Dictionary.com, the word diligently means to put forth a constant effort, to be attentive and persistent, or to pursue with painstaking attention, diligence. Now, let's look at the word seek, again our source is Dictionary.com, and our definition is this, to go in search of or to quest, to try to find or discover, or to try to obtain. So, I'm not sure about you, but to me, it seems that to diligently seek sounds a lot like love. When we find that special someone, the one that we want to spend eternity with, do not we put forth a constant effort to obtain, and keep, their affection? When we love someone, do don't we pursue them with painstaking attention and diligence? So in order to please God, do not we need to do the things that prove we love Him? And what are those things, are not they the same things we do for our husbands and wives? Yes, absolutely it is, we do whatever pleases them, we do whatever they ask us to do, and that is exactly how we please God, we do exactly what He has asked us to do, we follow His commandments...
God's Grace, Mercy, Love, and Forgiveness is exactly why we are all alive today, let us give thanks and show love to God by keeping His commandments to the best of our ability. We all know that no one is perfect, and God knows that as well, He knows that we will make mistakes, and that is why He gave us Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Mighty example and the sacrificial lamb, He paid the cost for our mistakes with His Blood, and each time we purposely sin, we place Him back on the cross again; instead of placing Him back on the cross, let us show our love for Him by using the Grace He has given us as a reason to love Him and the strength we need to keep His commandments... God Bless... Amen...
For more info, please read: (Romans 8:28, Hebrews 5:8-9, Hebrews Ch.6, II Corinthians 4:15, Galatians 1:6, Ephesians Ch.5)
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