Obeying God, Loving God

One of the Bible stories that I learned growing up was that of King Saul and the Amalekites (I Samuel 15). The Lord commanded him to go and utterly destroy all that belonged to the Amalekites, whether people or animals. Saul was victorious in his war against the Amalekites, but chose to spare the fattest of the animals. He was unwilling to destroy the best of Amalek, choosing to disobey the Lord in the process. Samuel came to Saul and told him, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (I Samuel 15:22). This phrase "To obey is better than sacrifice" was taught to me over and over and has been firmly ingrained in my thought and perspective.

When Jesus said, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you," (John 15:7), I simply thought in terms of obeying His words to remain in Him. That is, I thought in terms of keeping all His commands and following them. Like the rich young man that once came to Jesus and asked what good thing he had to do to get eternal life (Matthew 19:16-23), my attitude was that if I keep all that God commanded, then what do I still lack? I equated obeying His words with loving Him.

But in order for me to truly obey, I must be loving first. In loving, my obedience is not only to the letter of the law, but actually more abundanctly and overflowingly than that. That is what Jesus is teaching in His sermon on the mount. Jesus was fulfilling the Law (Matthew 5:17). In fulfilling the Law, He taught that if someone forces you to go one mile, then go with him two miles (Matthew 5:41). Do more than merely what is required, but do so out of love. That is what Macedonians practiced when they gave their offerings and alms (II Corinthians 8:1-5). The Macedonians were experiencing severe trials and extreme poverty, yet they gave with overflowing joy beyond their ability. They even pleaded with Paul and the apostles for the "privilege" of sharing with other saints. Giving was not just something the Macedonians were doing as a matter of duty and responsibility, but they considered it their privilege and so did it beyond their ability. It is like the proverbial ajumma (아줌마, Korean mother) who wants to not only fill your rice bowl, but pile it with a double portion of rice as an outpouring of love and generosity.

No question that I must obey the Lord and all He commands. I can only do so truly, only if I do it as an outpouring of love and with a generous heart, going all out with overflowing joy for the privilege of being able to obey what God commands me to do. Oh, Lord, enable me and endear me, so that with the love and power I receive from you, I may be able to fully obey you with an outpouring of love and generosity. Amen.

New creation

Apostle Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" What characterizes someone who is a new creation is explained in the verses that precede and follow this verse.

In verse 16, he writes, "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." First of all, someone who is a new creation has a new view, a new perspective of the world and all that is in it. The world is no longer the be all and end all. It is no longer the pride and joy of life. The life in this world is a brief journey, a mere stopover, that is incomparable to what is to come. By faith, Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter and regarded the treasures of Egypt and the pleasures of sin to be inferior to the reward that he was looking ahead to (Hebrews 11:24-26). Paul, the best educated of him time under Gamaliel and socially prominent, considered all of that to be but a loss and a rubbish (Philippians 3:8). In Korean translation, the last word is actually 'dung'.

This new view of the world is because of the new creation's new view of the Christ. Jesus Christ is not merely what the people of the world say he is. He is not just a teacher, a wise man, or even a saint. He is not just another prophet or even John the Baptist, as many in His days considered Him to be (Matthew 16:14). He is much, much more than any of that. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, as Peter confessed (Matthew 16;16). He is my personal Savior! Knowing Jesus to be so is so surpassingly great that everything else is but a loss and a rubbish (Philippians 3:8). Knowing Jesus to be my Savior gives me a new perspective, because I can now look ahead to resurrection and eternal life in the Kingdom of God. What is in this world is dishonorable, corruptible, and time-limited; what will be resurrected will be honorable, incorruptible, and eternal (I Corinthians 15). Knowing this, how can the new creation choose the dishonorable and the corruptible over the honorable and the incorruptible? He can't and shouldn't.

With the new perspective of who Jesus is and of what the world is really like comes the realization that the new creation has a new responsibility. It is the realization that we became new creation because God reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and that God wants us to be agents of reconciliation, delivering to others the message of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:18-20). We have been appointed as God's ambassadors, imploring the people of the world to repent and be reconciled with God.

How precious is this saying! How surpassingly great it is to know Jesus as my Savior and Christ and to have hope in resurrection and eternal life through Him! How overwhelming it is to know that now He considers me His agent, His ambassador, His messenger, and His representative, delivering His message of reconciliation to this world! Praise the Lord, Amen!