October 22
"Satan represents God's law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts. The fall of our first parents, with all the woe that has resulted, he charges upon the Creator, leading men to look upon God as the author of sin, and suffering, and death. Jesus was to unveil this deception. As one of us He was to give an example of obedience. For this He took upon Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences. "In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Heb. 2:17. If we had to bear anything which Jesus did not endure, then upon this point Satan would represent the power of God as insufficient for us. Therefore Jesus was "in all points tempted like as we are." Heb. 4:15. He endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God. He says, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:8. As He went about doing good, and healing all who were afflicted by Satan, He made plain to men the character of God's law and the nature of His service. His life testifies that it is possible for us also to obey the law of God.
Desire of Ages, page 24 from the chapter, 'God with us'
Believe that one and you are believing the master of deception. The reality is that God’s law of love is the very opposite of selfishness. God’s law of love is all about God giving , not taking. Satan says we can’t obey that. What he really means is that He can’t obey that. He wants to do things his own way.
The obedience we are talking about, if we follow the logic is to understand that Jesus came to obey in the sense that He chose to do God’s will and way. The obedience we are supposed to follow is the same, we are to do God’s will and way.
The issue is the motive behind all of this obedience. If we were simply to obey because God says we are to follow the example of His Son as slaves we might be happy to choose to disobey. If we were to simply obey because we were afraid of God we might choose to believe Satan’s interpretation. If we were to simply obey because we love the way that God so loved the world – then I guess that would be alright then because I could choose to follow, and obey, such a God.
I love the way that we are encouraged to understand what the law of love is.
"As He went about doing good, and healing all who were afflicted by Satan, He made plain to men the character of God's law and the nature of His service. His life testifies that it is possible for us also to obey the law of God.”
I could choose to follow and obey such a Master. I could choose to seek to emulate such an example, so long as God gives me the strength to obey, and so long as I choose not to believe Satan’s lies.
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
From October 21st this site will continue going through 'Desire of Ages' - but begin to advance rather faster than one paragraph at a time.
Our sister site, at the Upper Room, will progress at a rather slower pace - one paragraph at a time. If you want to head to our sister site for the slower trip through an excellent book you will eventually follow a link to the Upper Room. This will start on October 21st.
