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Words of Life
No 4, 2024, North Queensland
John 14:23
Jesus taught of this blessing He was to make available as a result of faith. We know that works do not save us, as confirmed by Apostle Paul, Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” However, here Jesus confirms that, if the priority is right, keeping (obeying) His words can provide a great and ongoing blessing.
If we love Him, then we will show that love through obedience. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and provided Grace to save. By faith we access Grace and then convert our faith to trust in Him. In summary, God loved us and now we love Him and trust in Grace which we show by obeying His words, whereby in turn, He dwells in our life.
Love, Grace and trust first, then our obedience has value!
That is the essence of a simple hymn we all know and love, ‘Trust and Obey’ which was written in 1886 by the minister John Sammis. The words of the first verse express the Lord’s message in this way:
When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His goodwill,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
The inspiration for this hymn came from the testimony of a young man at an evangelistic meeting. When people were asked, “How are you certain of salvation?”, his response was, “I am not quite sure, but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.”
Trust first then obey, to receive the ongoing gift of God’s presence in our life!