"Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, 'Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.'" (Deuteronomy 27:9-10)True religion is not based upon beliefs but upon relationship. The question is not, what do you believe but rather who do you belong to. The work of God is not to conform us to a common set of beliefs, rather to unite us to Himself as His people; His own possession. "Our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." (Titus 2:13-14) Jesus came not to correct our theology but to make us His; that we might become his people.
Our response to being owned is obedience. Notice that Moses' exhortation to obedience was not based upon Israel's believe system but upon their new relationship with God in that they had become "people for the Lord". Jesus similarly said, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46) If we are His then we own Him our obedience, not out of fear as when we were under the law, but out of our relationship to Him as His sons and daughters. "Who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood." (1 Peter 1:1-2) If we are His then we should obey Him.
There are many people who believe in God, and many even believe in Jesus and His work on the cross. However, the question is not whether or not we have believed in Him but whether or not we have become His; have we become His people; do we now belong to Him? Believing is good but we must go beyond believing to belonging, and having become His, to obedience.
David Robison
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