How are you and Jesus Doing Today? Part 1

How are you and Jesus doing today? Before you answer the question, examine yourself to see if you are still in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). There are a lot of people who say they are Christians, who will say their relationship with Jesus is good, and yet they live like the rest of the world.  There are people who say they are Christians, who say their relationship with Jesus is good, and they are walking the walk and talking the talk. Yet their life seems to be a bed of roses, with no problems, no temptations, they have smooth sailing. I would say to them that they don’t have a relationship with Jesus because they more than likely are not saved. Jesus tells us in John 14:15 “If ye Love me, keep My commandments.” He tells us again in verse 21 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” Again, in verse 23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” This is 3 times in 8 verses Jesus is telling us the if we love Him we will keep His words. Yes, His commandments are His words. Do you think keeping His commandments are important? Yes, it is very important in order to have a relationship with Him.

Let’s get back to examining yourself. How do you do it? What do you use to examine yourself? Well, the answer is to start with the ten commandments (Exodus 20:3-17). But you say, Jesus Himself gave two new commandments, the first being “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, and soul”, and the second to “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39; Mark 12:29,31; Luke 10:27). I say you are correct. Take a look at these two commandments, the first one covers the first four of the ten commandments, while the second commandment covers the last six. Start with the first one, and go to God in prayer for each individual commandment. Seek Him, and ask Him to reveal any commandment you have broken. Charles Spurgeon has this to say: “Read the ten commandments, and pause at each one, and confess that you have broken it either in thought, or word, or deed. Remember that by a glance we may commit adultery, by a thought we may be guilty of murder, by a desire we may steal.”

Let’s start with the first two as they really go hand in hand. The first is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”, and the second is “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Now, read this slowly. ANYTHING you put before God is idolatry. ANYTHING! It doesn’t matter if you don’t physically make a graven image. If you make a graven image in your heart, then you have committed idolatry! But that’s not what the second commandment is saying! You say it is saying to make a graven image, a physical graven image. I point you to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Notice that Jesus said “already in his heart”, not to physically lie with her. This is where adultery really starts, in the heart. Just like putting your job before God, or putting money before God is idolatry. You see, the ten commandments deal with the heart and nothing else. Now I will stop and clarify, I’m not talking about every now and then you put something before God, as in you get up late and you have to rush out to work. I’m talking about continuously and willfully putting things before God. As a Christian, this is also considered by God to be spiritual adultery.

So, what is one of the first things you do in the morning after you get up? Showered and dressed you say. Okay, then what do you do? I bet that a lot of you would say eat breakfast and then leave for work. What about your time with God, alone? Do you pray? Do you read your Bible? How about study your Bible? These should be done before you start your day, put God first and see how God will bless you during the day. See how much easier your day seems to be. See how peaceful you are during the day despite all of the problems that come your way. See how those problems seem to be minor ones. Your day will seem to be move along smoothly. Now, please, I am not going to tell you every day will be like that. Lean on Him throughout the day, pray during the day because we should really pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Do this for the rest of the ten commandments. When you ask God to reveal those areas in your life that you are falling short in, He will do it. Ask Him to forgive you in those areas and then work on those things. Search out the things of God first and foremost, abide in Christ and you will have all the strength to overcome the temptations that will come your way. I personally ask our Father to give His angels charge over me (Psalms 91:11), to protect me and to keep evil from me so that I don’t grieve Him.