As we struggle with the challenges of life and death, the most challenging question of all is: What does God want of us in this life? God answers that question in the Bible. From the beginning until now, He has made it clear that He wants our love, trust, and obedience.
God told Adam and Eve to care for the Garden of Eden, to enjoy its fruit, but to refrain from eating fruit from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," a tree that established the boundary between good and evil. When they disobeyed God and ate of that tree, they were driven in shame from the Garden and caused to suffer the ravages of death (Genesis 2-3).
Later, God commended Abraham as one who "may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice." (Genesis 18:19) That is what God wants of all men.
The Bible is replete with passages that summarize what God wants of us. "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all." (Ecclesiastes 12:13) When we obey His word, we show our love, trust, and respect for God. Though God commands formal worship, He also teaches us to translate our worship into daily action. At all times, and in all situations, we are to "hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate. But let judgment run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Amos 5:15,24).
When God taught the Jews to offer animal sacrifices for sin, He made it clear that "thousands of rams" would not substitute for sincere, daily submission to His will. "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:6-8) Life is brief and uncertain, filled with "labor and sorrow." Knowing our time here is short, we should pray, "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:10-12) We find God's wisdom in God's Word.
Jesus summed it all up in the words: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
All of God's commandments teach us what it truly means to love God and our fellowmen. To violate God's Word is to violate that love.
Knowing we have sinned; yet wanting us to be saved, God desires all men to hear, believe, and obey the gospel of Christ. Christ died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. On the basis of our faith in that fact, we must repent of all sin, confess Christ as God's Son, and be immersed in water to receive pardon through his atoning blood. Truly, "God is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9; Acts 2:38, 8:37-38)
When we obey these first gospel steps, God adds us to His church and then teaches us how to worship Him and how to live for Him each day. Thus, He redeems us from the destiny of hell and leads us to an eternal home in heaven. Ultimately, that is what God wants--for us to spend eternity with Him in heaven!
Brother Halbrook has clearly set before us the basic steps required to render and surrender our lives to Christ. God also wants us, to the best of our ability, to conform our lives to His teachings. May God help all of us to keep this commitment foremost in our minds! (KMG)