Jesus reduced the complex Jewish legal system down to just two simple straightforward commands:“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two.”
Jesus was able to do this by simply removing the word ‘not’ from the end of ‘thou shalt not’ and thereby turning reactive legalism into proactive righteousness. By replacing a list of what we couldn’t do with a list of what we ought to do Jesus was able to condense the entire Jewish law into just two short sentences.
At the same time he did this he also reduced the list of sins for which a Christian can be condemned to just one. The only sin a Christian can ever commit is the sin of compromise.
The greatest commandment demands the active surrender of all that I have and the second commandment gives me back the time and space I need to satisfy the needs of family and friends. Beyond meeting my ‘neighbours’ needs every minute, every penny and every influence I have must be entirely dedicated to God.
Just before William Booth died he was asked what had set him apart from other men, was it the fact that he had given all he had to God? The old man replied that there was nothing remarkable in such an act of devotion and that many people had given their all to God; the founder went on to say that what made his personal consecration remarkable was that he had never taken anything back.
Holiness – that supreme love that gladly gives all I have to God – is the only way forward for the Christian, but sadly, most Christians having laid all on the altar keep returning to take bits back – like a child chipping away at an Easter egg they are supposedly saving for later, in short they compromise.
Compromise is the killer of radical Christianity, there can be no such thing as primitive Salvationism without a constant, hour by hour consecration of all I have to God. The only reasonable act of Christian worship acceptable to God is a ‘living sacrifice’ – nothing else will do.
‘Without holiness none shall see the Lord’ not in our own lives, in our Corps, in our Division, neither in our territory nor indeed throughout the Army world.
There is only one choice - consecration or compromise, holiness or hell, there is no middle ground.
1 comment:
Andrew, thanks for this timely reminder of what God requires of us. Compromise is something that so many seem to want in these times. A friend of mine wasn't going to come to the Meeting yesterday because she wanted to compromise by working instead of coming to our Meeting. On Saturday I really spelt out to her that she ought not to put work before God. (She works from home so that makes it easier for compromise). She came and God really spoke to her heart. The message was on "Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbour as yourself" which is what you are speaking about in this blog. She has really turned the corner after a long spiritual battle. Keep on giving us these great messages and inspiring us to go on to living the holy life. God bless you.
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