We all come to Jesus at first because we want to be saved. After all after a while most of us like the prodigal son realize that the grass wasn't greener on the other side and that God's way really is the best way. The funny thing of course is that as much as God loves you and me He has a lot of other people that He cares about as well.
This puts God in an awkward position. You see in order to be able save the universe from imploding, and by that I mean every selfish person sucking the life out of everything else, He has to restore His job approval rating. He says that people really shouldn't be sucking the life out of things for themselves, but giving life to others, but there is some doubt as to whether or not that's the best way to do things. After all if we give to others whose going to give to us.
God says not to worry about that. He says that in His way everything we need will be taken care of by Him and others. The problem is the devil argues that's just not the case and that there is no reason to trust God because He's just saying all of those things so that we do things for Him. You see the devil is making accusations about God's character and that means that unless God disproves those allegations we can never be sure that somebody else might not try and not God off the hill.
So God sent His son to show that He's not in this for Himself. I have to say that He did a pretty good job of illustrating that on the cross. But that doesn't mean He's out of the woods. I mean even if God love's others more than Himself, and He does, does it really make a difference if the rebels keep on causing problems. If His government really isn't self serving shouldn't people be better living under His rules.
Well that's just it: we are. And that's what God is proving right now by carefully recording the differences in those that just say they believe in His government and those that are actually living by His commands. He's going to point to the one's living by His commands and show how their lives actually got better in meaningful ways.
That's why we need to be thinking more about helping God out of a bind than just saving our own skin. Yeah sure there's nothing wrong with being on the right side, but being on the right side means that we're on the side of something besides just ourselves. It means that we're fighting for something bigger than whether or not we can make our lives better. We're trying to advance a cause a principle that if victorious will set the course right for everyone, not just ourselves.
So the next time you're pondering whether or not you should put down that offending magazine, or pick up the phone to give an encouraging call, don't just do it for yourself, do it for His sake.
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