Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It has taken thirty years of reasoning, punctuated by three and a half years of writing these blogs, to bring me to my knees. This world told me to build a legacy, to have people appreciate who I am and what I have done. But my Savior has broken through all of those lies. All of the successes, all of the trophies, all of the money and possessions, no longer provide a sense of pride. For now, I know that my only purpose was to point people to Jesus. If they remember Him, I can rest in peace.
To this end, I am writing my final book, Lifting the Veil on God's Only Law. I include the first few pages of the first draft below. If you are interested in receiving a free copy when it is finished, please send me an email requesting it, and I will send you the book's pdf.
bill@reasoningwithgod.com
I have been blessed to have so many readers and followers. Hopefully, you have been blessed by God's Word.
In His service,
bill
Lifting the Veil On
God's Only Law
This world's lies act as a veil to hide God's only law. We are being told there are so many laws, both God's and those of the country we live in, no one can be expected to keep all of them. The implication being, it is ok to break some of them, even God's laws, since everyone else is. Today we are lifting the veil and revealing the truth that God has only one law, and He asks us not to break it. Everything else is either a clarification of that law or someone lying to us to keep us from His truth.
God's only law is the law of love, 2 Jn 2:5, "And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another." and Rom 13:10, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." He is telling us we do not need laws if we would just live the fruit of the Spirit, Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” All of the law and the prophets is fulfilled in one word, love, Gal 5:14, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." and Matt 7:12, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." and Rom 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
Jesus tells a member of the Sadducees that he is close to the kingdom of God because he understands the law of love, Mk 12:28-34, “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.”
Many of us, who count ourselves wise, have either ignored or mischaracterized God's Word, leading others to disbelief. Sadly, without the faith God offers to all, we are left worshipping the creature more than the Creator, Rom 1:22-25, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” When we think we are too smart to fall for God's simple law of love, we make up our own laws and set up our own images to worship, thus choosing to ignore God and the eternity He is offering.
What images are we worshipping today? Money because we can acquire the things that make us look important; power to elevate our status; fame because we want others to worship us; disputes about the meaning of the Bible because we want to seem holy; and personal pleasures because they increase our self-worth. These are a few of the many selfish indulgences we have chosen as substitutes for our Creator. However, He wants us to lay up our treasures in heaven, not in this life, Matt 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If we ignore His calling, we will be left with the rewards of this life only, Matt 6:2, "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
We, humans, have continually ignored God's warnings and rebelled against God's simple law of love by creating our own laws, Prov 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." God wants us to put His law before all of the laws we have created, Acts 4:19, "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." and Acts 5:29, "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." We continue to create our own laws because we refuse to live God's simple law of love. Our laws reflect our disobedience and our rebellion against His plan/purpose. Can we not see how our disobedience has changed everything He created good? We turned wine into alcoholism, food into gluttony, work into pride, and games into gambling. God has called us to finish the race He set before us, Heb 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” instead, we now are pawns in a rat race. Would it not be better to seek the plan God has seen and work on the process of daily transforming our lives to align with His plan, Prov 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
He designed everything to work together for good, Rom 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." And when we live our lives in alignment with His plan/purpose, Col 1:16, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” we learn everything was created for Him. This means there is a purpose for and a design in everything He created. When we obey Him, we intentionally live our lives in harmony with His creation, and this is how we obtain His peace Jn 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” and 2 Tim 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” and Rom 8:15, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” and Jn 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” and, our reward is the expected end He is creating for us, Jer 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” This end He is preparing is a world where everyone will love everyone else. When we live to complete our own plan, we get frustrated when things aren’t working out. However, when we are following God’s plan, we can rest in His peace, no matter what is going on around us, for He has promised to complete what He starts, Phil 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” This is how we avoid the anxieties of this world.
He allows each of us to decide our own eternal future; do we want to live for eternity in a world emersed in God's love, or not? When I take the time to really think about this choice, I end up echoing Joshua's pledge, Josh 24:15, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua personally witnessed many of God's miracles on his way to the promised land, and his belief was firm. If we would honestly evaluate what we see in this world, we can still witness His miracles. I have personally experienced God's faithfulness many times, in less profound ways than Joshua observed, but no less impressive and confirming.
Wait, didn't God give us the Ten Commandments and all of the Mosaic Laws? Aren't there 613 laws in the Torah? Yes, but are they all really from God? Not exactly, God gave us the Ten Commandments, Jesus brought us the Be-Attitudes, and because we hardened our hearts, we have created an uncountable number of laws. We have not been able to keep all of the laws we have created, and even if we could, they would not save us. God's law of love is all we need, for when we are living it, we become selfless and good works pour out of us; Matt 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." He established a covenant with us long before we hardened our hearts and began creating our own laws, many of which we attribute to God, Gen 6:18, "But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee." A covenant relationship, like a marriage, is intended to be one where only love is required, Deut 7:9, "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;" His promises are for anyone who chooses to accept His love.
If you want to read the rest of the story, please email me, and I will send you a free copy of the book.