A Line You Won't Cross

LearningToLetGo said:
Is there a line you won't cross in service of the Lord?

Abram was prepared to slaughter his own son before God stayed his hand. Would he have gone through? Would the Lord have asked him otherwise?

It seems we all have our lines in the sand. We will go this far and no further, and we pray God never asks more of us than we are willing to give, but is that really service or merely lip service?

What of men of differing lines? Is the man who raises the bar above his head to look down upon the man who's bar rests at his hips or knees? The two are the same in substance, differing in quantity but not quality.

Can any serve the Lord fully? Is such a thing even possible?
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Hello LearningToLetGo;

The line I won’t cross is the line of disobedience to God. The lines “in the sand,” to me is with the world. Though I am a sinner doesn’t mean I don’t strive to live in obedience and seek His guidance daily, I still fall short with Him.

I can’t recall if I went through Abram’s preparation to sacrifice Isaac. I have had those moments when I was on the edge of the cliff with God. Instead of a short cut to get around the Almighty I chose Him. The circumstance may have been trying but my faith got me through and the lesson learned was that His Way was always best.

Abram would have gone through the sacrifice but God commanded his servant to withhold his hand and blessed him for his faithfulness.

Getting back to this “lines in the sand” it is true we acquaint this with the temptations between choosing man’s ways instead of God’s. God will always lead us beyond the sand when we choose to serve Him fully, not perfectly, but fully.

God bless you, Jason, and your family.
Bob
 
LearningToLetGo said:
Here is hopefully a more succinct way of asking this question:

Do you love God because of what he is or how he behaves?

Imagine the love of a spouse or a friend. At first you love them because of how they behave, but gradually you learn to love them for who they are, not because of their behavior but despite it. Ultimately, God willing, you reach a level of friendship where you love them unconditionally.

Applying this to God, at first you are drawn to God because of his behavior. You desire his promise of salvation and want his love. Eventually, however, you must move beyond that and realize that God deserves your worship not because of what he does but because of what he is: namely, The Creator. At this point you realize that you will do literally anything for God, even burn in Hell for all eternity if that is his will. Salvation becomes unnecessary since it's your love of God that sustains you, not his promise to you. Your love for God ceases to be transactional and becomes pure.

Bringing this back to the OP, if there is anything you can imagine that God can do that will stop you from loving him then you have discovered your line in the sand. Perhaps God damns innocents to Hell? That's your line. Perhaps he chooses those he will save before Creation began and allows untold billions to wallow in misery and death. If the notion of that offends you then that's your line, etc.

I can't express this idea any clearer than this.
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"WE love God because He first loved us"......1 John 4:19

The bottom line is that we should love Him for who He is and not only love Him more just when He does something for us. We should love God….JUST BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS! That’s it! No other reasons are necessary. This is a very hard concept to follow because we don’t always understand why God allows things to happen in our lives.

And that brother is where you are coming from in your questions. When I was a little boy, I did not understand why my father whipped me. I did not understand why my mother made me lie under the bed as punishment. Now I know!
They were trying to make me into a better person, a man that could see and know right from wrong. But I was just like YOU and every other little boy. I knew my parents were the Two dumbest people in the world! Now I know they were the smartest!

This principle that I have adopted into my life has not come easy…it’s been through years of going through many trials and God teaching me that He will never leave me or forsake me. I’ve gone through years of God teaching me His long-suffering techniques under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I know that getting upset with God does nothing but hurt my relationship with Him.

Just like my earthly father, I love God…because I know He has my best interest at heart and His motives are pure and perfect. I love God because He has forgiven me and He’s made me His very own child. I love God because of all the grace and mercy He sends me every single day. I love God because of the relationship that I have developed with Him resulting from our constant interaction with each other.

I love God because He sent His only Son to come down here to rescue me because I would have been lost forever. I love God because He will change me into a glorified being and He will never let me suffer anything ever again and He’s prepared a place for me to spend all of eternity.

These are reasons why I love God that has been has been growing in my heart over many years but the main reason that has developed in me is to love and worship God is because of who He is…He is God. As humans…love grows and develops within us….but when it comes to God…we should be very secure on knowing who we are in Christ and who God is to us and in us. This is revealed to us in the bible and by the Holy Spirit.

What He did with Abraham or Noah or Moses or the Israelites means nothing to me. It is what He has done for ME!
 
Major said:
"WE love God because He first loved us"......1 John 4:19

The bottom line is that we should love Him for who He is and not only love Him more just when He does something for us. We should love God….JUST BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS! That’s it! No other reasons are necessary. This is a very hard concept to follow because we don’t always understand why God allows things to happen in our lives.

And that brother is where you are coming from in your questions. When I was a little boy, I did not understand why my father whipped me. I did not understand why my mother made me lie under the bed as punishment. Now I know!
They were trying to make me into a better person, a man that could see and know right from wrong. But I was just like YOU and every other little boy. I knew my parents were the Two dumbest people in the world! Now I know they were the smartest!

This principle that I have adopted into my life has not come easy…it’s been through years of going through many trials and God teaching me that He will never leave me or forsake me. I’ve gone through years of God teaching me His long-suffering techniques under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I know that getting upset with God does nothing but hurt my relationship with Him.

Just like my earthly father, I love God…because I know He has my best interest at heart and His motives are pure and perfect. I love God because He has forgiven me and He’s made me His very own child. I love God because of all the grace and mercy He sends me every single day. I love God because of the relationship that I have developed with Him resulting from our constant interaction with each other.

I love God because He sent His only Son to come down here to rescue me because I would have been lost forever. I love God because He will change me into a glorified being and He will never let me suffer anything ever again and He’s prepared a place for me to spend all of eternity.

These are reasons why I love God that has been has been growing in my heart over many years but the main reason that has developed in me is to love and worship God is because of who He is…He is God. As humans…love grows and develops within us….but when it comes to God…we should be very secure on knowing who we are in Christ and who God is to us and in us. This is revealed to us in the bible and by the Holy Spirit.

What He did with Abraham or Noah or Moses or the Israelites means nothing to me. It is what He has done for ME!
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Hello Major;

Very nice post, thank you, brother.

I remember my Dad spanked me and I don’t remember what I did wrong. My Mom once punished my sister and me for not behaving during Church. So when we got home Mom made my sister and I sit next to each other for 10 minutes looking at each other in the eyes. 😫 YIKES!

I learned something from at least one of these lessons. My Dad always minded my words and behavior and apparently I did think before I spoke. As far as my sister I still cringe when we have eye contact. 😁 lol!
 
Major said:
The bottom line is that we should love Him for who He is and not only love Him more just when He does something for us. We should love God….JUST BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS! That’s it! No other reasons are necessary. This is a very hard concept to follow because we don’t always understand why God allows things to happen in our lives.
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This is exactly my point. Thank you for saying it. However, your words below (highlighted) seem to say the complete opposite.

Major said:
Just like my earthly father, I love God…because I know He has my best interest at heart and His motives are pure and perfect. I love God because He has forgiven me and He’s made me His very own child. I love God because of all the grace and mercy He sends me every single day. I love God because of the relationship that I have developed with Him resulting from our constant interaction with each other.

I love God because He sent His only Son to come down here to rescue me because I would have been lost forever. I love God because He will change me into a glorified being and He will never let me suffer anything ever again and He’s prepared a place for me to spend all of eternity.
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Would you still love God if he did none of these things? That is simply my question. Think of Job. God took away all his blessings. Satan expected Job to condemn God as a result but God knew better.

What of us? Would we still love God if he promised us nothing and gave us nothing? Is our love for God transactional? Do we love him in exchange for the promise of Salvation? Is that really love? It's easy to love someone who loves you back. It's incredibly hard to love someone that ignores you, or worse.

This thread is essentially a `what if' mental exercise. I'm not saying God does not love us, but just the opposite. I feel God's love constantly. However, if a person finds their feelings towards God shaken by the prospect of him not saving them, that's where they need to focus their prayers, not in asking for salvation but in asking for clarity of understanding.

Or perhaps I'm being too hard. It seems few people enjoy these kinds of thought exercises.
 
LearningToLetGo said:
This is exactly my point. Thank you for saying it. However, your words below (highlighted) seem to say the complete opposite.


Would you still love God if he did none of these things? That is simply my question. Think of Job. God took away all his blessings. Satan expected Job to condemn God as a result but God knew better.

What of us? Would we still love God if he promised us nothing and gave us nothing? Is our love for God transactional? Do we love him in exchange for the promise of Salvation? Is that really love? It's easy to love someone who loves you back. It's incredibly hard to love someone that ignores you, or worse.

This thread is essentially a `what if' mental exercise. I'm not saying God does not love us, but just the opposite. I feel God's love constantly. However, if a person finds their feelings towards God shaken by the prospect of him not saving them, that's where they need to focus their prayers, not in asking for salvation but in asking for clarity of understanding.

Or perhaps I'm being too hard. It seems few people enjoy these kinds of thought exercises.
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Brother, I was just giving you a comparative example, no more and no less. Me thinks maybe you are looking for something that is not there just to be looking.

You are in fact being very philosophical! IMHO.
 
LearningToLetGo said:
You motivated me to Google that phrase and voila, I discovered Tertullian. :)
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It's been said many of the early Church Fathers were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy just as many of the early Reformers were influenced by Rome.

My Google search came back with

"It was referring to the relationship between philosophy (symbolized by Athens) and spirituality (symbolized by Jerusalem), or the relationship between reason and faith; the relationship between those things that we can know with our minds alone, and those that require different modes of knowing — truths which are not ...Sep 29, 2021"
 
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LearningToLetGo said:
You say that like it's a bad thing. ;)
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It is not bad and I did not mean it that way.

However, if I may quote the late Dr. J. Vernon MaGee who stated in his works, "Through The Bible" who said,
"Philosophy is like a blind man, in a room painted black, with no lights, trying to find the door".

All I am saying is exactly what Paul said in Colossians 2:8..........
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

Paul is not against philosophy in the general sense of answering questions about the nature of reality, truth, and ethics. When he defended the faith, he did so by answering these very questions in Acts 17:22-31. Rather, Paul is warning us not to be carried away by a particular kind of philosophy.
 
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