“Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a
result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they
too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all
men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all”
Romans 11:30-32
Never confuse behavior with regeneration. Your behavior is a
result of the conversion of your thinking. Regeneration is the source
of that conversion. You cannot demand righteousness from an
unrighteous spirit. That’s why God gives you His Spirit when you
come back to Him. Proper behavior is impossible without the Holy
Spirit because your functions arise from the nature of your spirit. If
you want to function by love, you have to have the Spirit who is the
Source of love.
Song, the electronics company packs a manual with new equipment.
Among other things, the manual contains a list of the features
Sony built into the equipment.
God has created you with certain features that He has defined
and clarified in His operating manual. You have a body, a soul, and
a spirit. If you want to operate up to your full potential, you must
carefully study how God designed each of these features to function.
There are certain laws that govern each characteristic. If you disregard
these laws, you cannot function properly.
Sony also details the precautions to be observed when you operate
the equipment. These are the don’ts you must avoid if you want
to enjoy the highest quality and the maximum performance from the
tape recorder.
When God created man, He put him in a beautiful garden and
gave him authority over all that was in the garden. Then God gave
man a precaution: “You can eat from all the trees in the garden
except for this one tree. If you eat from this tree you will die.” God’s
precaution was an act of love. He wanted to save man from the
penalties of sin and death. But man violated God’s precaution. We
are still living with the consequences of that disobedience.
If God gives you a precaution, don’t test it to see what will happen
if you do it. Precautions
always indicate the consequences
of specific actions. Disobedience
is always followed by the assessment
of the penalty.
Aperson without
God is
dangerous.
