Okay, for most it is summer and vacation etc...and no one wants to think about 'indicatives' and 'imperatives,' but this is worth the time to carefully consider:
“In every other religion the indicative flows from the imperative. Which means, ‘because I do, therefore I am… because I do this, therefore I’m a child of God.’ But only in Christianity does the imperative flow from the indicative. ‘Because I am in Christ all these things, therefore I obey.’ Exactly the opposite.”
- Tim Keller, Led by the Spirit (message given at Redeemer Presbyterian Church)
2 comments:
Great thought Jack! How did we ever get it wrong? Oh yeah.. from the folks that think the 10 commandments are things written in stone rather than in our hearts :)
Great Quote, Jack!
I think this is what Jesus is saying in John 14:15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." The problem is when we try to obey Jesus to prove that we love Him. We've got it backward.
It's not "If you keep my commandments, then you love me." He's saying, "If you first love me, then you will obey me." Obedience is caused by love. Love is not caused by obedience.
Obedience flows out of love, not the other way around.
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