Exodus 20:3   You must not have any other god but me.  (NLT)

Jesus took it another step when a Pharisee asked Him about the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:37-40   And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Loving God means accepting all that He brings into our lives.  It means remembering that He loves us, and that He only gives us what will draw us closer to Himself.

And loving people doesn’t mean condoning their sin, but loving them means doing what is best for them.  If someone you love is about to destroy their life, love isn’t being tolerant of their choice.  Love is doing everything you can to save them.

It's a choice.  Will you love God?  Will you love others?

John 15:4-5   Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

What do you rely on for your security?  Your finances?  Elected leaders?  Your family?  We so often rely on good things instead of the best thing.  We put our trust in people and things rather than in Jesus, and we think we are doing well.  But human effort won’t succeed.  It will wither and die.

But Jesus said that apart from Him, it’s all worthless.  You can work as hard as you want, but it will not matter.  Are you abiding in Him?  Do you draw your strength from Him?  He is the true vine.  We are branches, producing fruit by His grace.  And everything we accomplish is through His power.  Nothing else will last.  Only what He brings into our lives.  So abide.  Keep holding tight to Jesus.  And never let Him go.

As God prepared him to lead the people to the Promised Land, God and Moses had this conversation:

Exodus 33:14-15  And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.

God, if we don’t see your presence in our lives, don’t send us.  We can only do things in Your strength, not our own.  We can do nothing if You are not in us.  But as Paul said in:

Philippians 4:13   I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

If we are to have that strength, we need to abide in Christ.  We need to live in His presence.  Paul wrote of a time when Moses had to wear a veil over his face because the people were afraid of the way his face reflected the glory of God.  And then he said:

2 Corinthians 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

As we experience God’s presence, His glory in our lives, we reflect it so that all may see Him.  That’s what it means that our faces are unveiled.  We see Him, and we reflect Him.  Others see Him in us. 

What is the result?  We are transformed by the Lord from one degree of glory to another.  The more we look to Jesus, the more glory He pours into us, and the more we reflect Him to those around us.
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And as we trust in Him more and more, the glory does not depart.  It becomes deeper, stronger, and we find that we CAN do all things through the power and the love and the grace of Jesus.

Revelation 2:1-5   “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.  I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."

The Ephesians were doing some things well.  They endured.  They tested false prophets.  They hadn’t grown weary.  They had just grown accustomed to the way things were.  They had melded into the status quo, and they had chosen to stay there.  They had lost their first love, their zeal, their excitement to be who God was calling them to be, and to do all He was calling them to do.

They had become a nice church, bearing up, patiently enduring.  But instead of losing their lives for the sake of Christ, instead of abandoning everything for the love of Jesus, they abandoned that first love and lived in the safety of their routine.

What’s the big deal?  The big deal is that Jesus said He would personally remove their light if they didn’t give themselves fully to the cause of Christ.  It makes me wonder about the church today.  How do we hide in the safety of our church practices?  Is Jesus calling us to something higher, something more than what we are living out today?

It comes down to the question of what we truly value.  Do we value living for Jesus, and sacrificing our lives for Him, or do we value our security, our possessions and our own desires?
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The Ephesians needed to make a choice.  But that church is gone.  I wonder what they chose.  

We also have a choice.  What will you choose?

1 Corinthians 9:22b-23   I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

What was Paul saying?  Would he become a thief to save a thief?  Would he become an atheist to save an atheist?  Of course not!  Paul wasn't talking absurdities.  He would not violate God's law in Jesus.  But he would go against cultural norms and man-made traditions if it meant reaching people with the Good News of Jesus.

Why?  For the sake of the gospel.  For the opportunity to share with those people in their new lives.  So I may share with them forever.

What are you and I willing to do to see someone come to Jesus?  Without going against God's Word, would we go against the traditions that we know, and the Christian cultural norms if it meant leading someone into the kingdom of God?  I wonder...

​Jeremiah 6:16-17   Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.  But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’  But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’

Jeremiah faced rejection for speaking God's message to the people.  So did Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and every other prophet.  It had to be a hard life to be a prophet.  It seems like discouragement would follow you wherever you went.

But Jesus also faced rejection.  He was on His way to fulfill His mission when He said these words in Matthew 23:37-39   “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  See, your house is left to you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

And yet His mission was to provide forgiveness, even for those who nailed Him on the cross.

Luke 23:34   And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

What incredible love!  When you are rejected for sharing God's Word with the people around you,  remember that Jesus was also rejected.  Then have His response.  Forgive them.  They aren't really rejecting you, they are rejecting Jesus.  And they need to know His love and forgiveness in their lives.

So keep telling them about Jesus.  And don't worry about the results.  Let God produce the harvest.

Matthew 20:10-16   Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
 
In this parable, Jesus tells us to be content with what God gives to us.  He will provide for us, and He will give us what He promised.  But let God be God.  He will choose what you receive.  And He only gives good things from His hand.

Mark 9:49   For everyone will be salted with fire. 

In the Old Testament, sacrifices to God were placed on the altar and burnt.  Salt was also a part of that sacrifice.  Jesus is saying that we are to sacrifice ourselves to Him.  That is how we are made holy.  We come to Him in the way that pleases Him, giving ourselves in love, and He purifies us.
 
Mark 9:50   Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

Most salt in the area came from the Dead Sea.  It had impurities, so if it wasn’t processed correctly, it would have a bad taste, and it wouldn’t preserve, or heal, or purify.  It would be worthless.

Jesus told His disciples to have salt in their lives.  To be agents of healing, to preserve life, and to purify the world and the lives of those around them.  To be thirsty and to make others thirsty for the Living Water that Jesus Christ gives.  That’s what He calls us to do, too.

​Luke 23:33-34   And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.  And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Aren’t you glad that the very first thing Jesus said as He hung on the cross was, “Forgive them”?  Jesus forgave all our debt as He took our place, and died on the cross.

Colossians 2:13-14   And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Jesus nailed our sin to the cross.  He paid the price of our forgiveness.  Our sin is gone.  The debt has been erased.  Forever.  Then how should we respond?  Because not only do we stand in the place of the first servant, who owed such an incredible debt, but we also stand in place of the second servant who would not forgive.  Being forgiven, how are we to forgive?  Paul gives us the answer.

Colossians 3:12-13   Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 
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Did you catch that?  We are to forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven us.  Completely.  Immediately.  The first words out of our mouths need to be, “I forgive you.”  Just as they were the first words Jesus spoke on the cross.

Jeremiah 2:11-13   Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?  But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.  Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils:  they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

John 7:37-38   On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

In Jeremiah, God called Himself the fountain of living waters.  In John, Jesus said that He is the source of living water.  The people understood that Jesus was telling them that He is God, and He is their Messiah.  He often demonstrated the fact that He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.

If you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will fill you, and everyone around you will see and experience Him.  How?  You will overflow with the Spirit, like rivers pouring out of you.  They will be "soaked" with the love and grace of the living water flowing from your life.