Jesus
calls us to be both holy and loving. We need both - holiness and love.
We're not to be hypocrites who've given up on holiness. We're not to be
content with keeping up appearances. We're to seek holiness of heart.
This is the heart of holiness. We're not to be hypocrites who show no
love for other people. How can we have much love for God if we don't
have much love for other people? A life that's centred on ourselves is
very different from a life that's centred on Christ. A life that's being
shaped by Christ's love will be a life of receiving His love and
sharing His love. He's teaching us how much He loves us. He's helping us
to show His love to other people.
"The Son of Man came to save the lost" (Matthew 18:11). In Matthew 18:12-13, Jesus speaks about sheep. He's really speaking about us. He is the Shepherd. We are His sheep. Sheep wander away from the shepherd. We wander away from the Lord. The shepherd looks for the lost sheep. Jesus has come to seek for us and find us. He brings us home to God, our Father. Through His saving grace, we receive new life - a life in which we rejoice in our great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He delivers us from the condemnation, which our sin has brought upon us. He brings us into the knowledge of His forgiveness. This Gospel of salvation changes us. It teaches us to live in the power of God's love. Jesus speaks about "the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:12,23), "the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:14,24) and "eternal life" (Matthew 19:29). Jesus' way of thinking and living is so very different from the world's way of thinking and living. He chall...
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