The Measure Of A Life

The Measure Of A Life

“Beloved, thou doest a faithful work
in whatsoever thou doest toward them
that are brethren and strangers withal”
3 John 1:5

Faithfulness in God’s eyes is measured by our doing and giving. “thou doest a faithful work” is His word to each of us as we live out our lives in this world. Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, went about doing good. This ONE, this pure example of all God is, revealed this heart through the daily life that He lived and the works of His hands.

“Jesus who from Nazareth—how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power; who went through, doing good, and healing all those oppressed by the Devil because God was with Him”
Acts 10:38

Why did Jesus go forth doing good? “Because God was with Him”.

Let us reconsider the moving of God within our own lives. Love IS the power of God; the greater the depth of our dwelling in Him who is Love, the greater will be the manifestation of His Life through us.

Do we not hear and feel the cry of His Spirit within us?

“My little children, let us not love in word, or in tongue,
but in deed and in truth..”
1 John 3:18

John follows this scripture with a clear measure of our relationship to His truth:

“And in this,
we shall know that we are of the truth”
1 John 3:19

How are we to know we are of the truth? By loving others in DEED and in TRUTH. The hope for us all is in His Word impacting our lives with the weight of God’s estimation.

Many in our day are so careful and meticulous about what they believe yet fail to develop the essential character of the LIFE to which God has called them. Those who are of the truth, love in deed and IN truth. Their lives are a revelation of the verity of the Christ within.

God gives His estimation of the true condition of those who have a belief in Him but are impoverished in the works borne of His love.

“They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him…”
Titus 1:16

Love Transcends Knowlege

“And if I have prophecies, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:2

Love is the signature of God in a life.

The works which carry the weight, and the witness of God, are those borne of His love moving us and pressing us to shine the light of Him into the world around us. Of course, there are the religious works of the flesh, even works that appear good to men, but are motivated by a desire for recognition and self-seeking. However, today, the ethos in our land is one of apathy and neglect. These are the fruits of an empty faith that rest upon the words of truth rather than the life of truth.

God’s word to the Church at Ephesus held a terrifying weight of judgment.

“But I have against you
that you left your first love…”
Revelation 2:4

What was God’s remedy for His Church? What was God’s verdict if they failed to repent?

“Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.”
Revelation 2:5

The church today tends to focus more on being involved in the politics of our day rather than being the light of God to all. Those who live in the flesh, contend in the flesh; those who live in the Spirit, show forth the works and character of God.

The command of Jesus to His own is:

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven”
Matthew 5:16

Those who are genuinely His live for one purpose, the same one that burned in Jesus: to glorify their Father in heaven by their good works.

“And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works”
Hebrew 10:24

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“Love cannot be inactive, its life is a ceaseless effort to know, to feel, and to realize the boundless treasures hidden within its depths. This is its insatiable desire”
Jan Van Ruvsbroeck

See Related Article: Come Away!

Brian Troxel
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