Would you like a deeper walk with God? Would you like a long prosperous life? Or are you satisfied with doing your own thing? If it is the latter, then read no further. You obviously don’t need the blessings of God that I’m about to share.
John 14:21 ‘He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.’
Deut 6:24 ‘And the Lord commanded us to do all these statues, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.’
You see, I have been in the place of doing my own thing. I must say, it wasn’t much of a life. I came to church, sang in the choir, played in the orchestra, and taught Sunday School. I lived the part. However, I lacked one very important thing… my identity.
No, I wasn’t transgressing the sacred ‘outward identities’ like wearing makeup. I wasn’t wearing pants or mini-skirts. But I did start shortening the length of my skirts and wearing tighter clothing. I also wasn’t praying like I should, and I was not presenting myself as a godly woman as stated in 1 Timothy 2:9-10. To the people I worked with, and probably most people at my church, I was still a Christian. However, I wasn’t following the commandments that God had given. I was too busy judging other people and thinking about what I wanted.
Needless to say, the blessings of God were not on my life. My marriage was rocky, my relationship with my children was suffering, we were always in the red financially, and above all, my relationship with God was all but non-existent.
So how did I correct it? Did I put on a long skirt and everything changed? No. It’s not that simplistic. What I did was fell in love with Jesus. And when I did that, my identity returned. And as it states in John 14:21, I started keeping His commandments and He began to manifest Himself to me. Has anyone ever told you that they love you with their lips, but their actions speak something different? That is what we do to God when we don’t follow His commandments. We can say that we love Him, but he knows our true intent. He sees our hearts, even when we are fooling other people… and ourselves.
Timothy was sent to instruct the people regarding their dress and their way of living, just as God has sent us a preacher to instruct us on how to achieve the greatest blessings. If we are disobedient, we will surely lose out on the many blessings that He has for us.
Let’s strive to show God that we love Him. Then we will see the many benefits of preserving our identity.
(Written by a friend of Apostolic Living)
