SHINE ON ME

God’s glory is radiant light: He “covers Himself with light as with a garment”, “dwelling in unapproachable light.” God reveals bits of Himself, His nature, to us; we only know God through these self manifestations. The importance of glory as a manifestation of God is attested to by 430 scriptures. God’s radiant brilliance -- His unchanging essence, the inner reality that makes God who He is -- may be a physical manifestation of His nature. “God is love.”  Perhaps the deep passion of His agape love for us is expressed and released as brilliant, glorious light. Perhaps love is the intrinsic glory of God, His covering and His dwelling place. And perhaps the fullness of His love in us will likewise express itself as glorious light... a beacon of light to a world in darkness. Or, said another way, perhaps we are reflectors of His glory as His agape love flows through us.

Endnote: Let’s go deeper. Moses desired to see God’s glory, the inner reality which makes God who He is: “And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He (God) said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you.” God clearly equated His glory with His goodness in this passage. So, perhaps His glory is a physical manifestation of His goodness… perhaps goodness is the intrinsic glory of God. Perhaps God’s unchanging essence – the inner reality that makes God who He is -- is His goodness. And, He loves because He is good, not the other way around, love springing forth naturally out of a good heart. I may need to ponder this a few million years…

(Exodus 33:18-19)

Come shine on me Father, shine on me! Let Your goodness and love be my intrinsic glory as I reflect Your goodness and love on others. 

REPENTANCE

The New Testament concept of repentance is derived from the marriage of the Greek meta – a change of place or condition – with noeo – to exercise the mind, think, comprehend -- forming metanoeo, to repent, change the mind. We must distinguish between the classical Greek usage of metanoeo, which had no moral content, and the scriptural usage where the context is typically moral/sin. Theologically, metanoeo involves regret and/or sorrow accompanied by a true change of heart toward God. We see Jesus in Matt. 11:20-24 condemning the cities that had seen His great works and had not repented, tying repentance to “sackcloth and ashes”, remorse, and a lack of repentance to eternal judgment, the penalty for sin, etc.  In repentance there has to be a turning from and a turning to, just as when one changes their mind it has to change from something to something, or it’s not really changed but just something is added with nothing replaced. This is seen most clearly in scripture where repent is coupled with “convert”, the Greek epistrepho, which means “to turn to.”  Acts 3:19: “Repent and be converted…” Acts 26:20: “Repent, turn to God…”, where “turn to” translates epistrepho. Notice that repentance comes first in these passages: We must first change our mind about the world and our sinful nature before we can truly turn to God.

The O.T. Hebrew verb nacham is translated to repent, to comfort, and to relent, taking its meaning from the context. In a majority of the verses where nacham is translated repent, it is God who is the one who repents. So, repentance is more of a Grace thing than a Law thing. 

True repentance without tears is a rare thing, not impossible, but highly improbable. And, if I turn to God without turning from sin, I fall headlong into First John where habitual sin will choke/smother God’s word working in my life. Thankfully, repentance is a process: Many of the usages of repent are in the present imperative active, a command involving continuous action into the future, Matt. 4:17 for example, and God is very patient. But we should remember the Sower Parable, in particular the thorn bushes, where the desire for riches and the pleasures of this life “choked” (Luke’s term for drowning) the word of God. Repentance must be maintained, the turning away and turning to steadfast to overcome the temptations of the world.

I love the thought of turning toward God for this is where righteousness comes into play.  God makes us “the righteousness of God in Him” (Jesus). Isn’t that awesome! Sinless in God’s eyes, not perfect, not spiritually mature yet, still in reality filthy rags, but sinless in His eyes. This is so He can work in us, “willing and doing of His good pleasure in us”, maybe getting rid of our old nature bit by bit, so He doesn’t kill us in the process. God is good.

“REPENT THEREFORE AND BE CONVERTED,

THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE BLOTTED OUT,

SO THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME

FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD”

KNOW: THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP CONNECTION

In many places in the New Testament the word “know” is used to carry a relationship connection between God/Jesus and man.  The Greek word the Holy Spirit consistently chose in these passages is “ginosko” which means intimate relationship gained through experience, and carries the sense of personal fellowship with God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit in many passages.  Here are a few examples from the Apostle John’s writings:

* The good shepherd knows His sheep and is known by them (Jn. 10:14).

* My Father (God) knows me (Jesus) and even so I (Jesus) know the Father (Jn. 10:15).

* But you know Him (The Holy Spirit), for He dwells with you and shall be in you (Jn.14:17).

* At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you (Jn.14:20).

* And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn. 17:3).

* Now we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.  If we say that we   know Him and do not keep His commands, we are a liar.  But if we keep His word, His love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we are in Him (1 Jn. 2:3-5).

* By this we know love because He laid down His life for us (1 Jn. 3:16).

* By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us (1 Jn. 3:24).

* Beloved let us love one another for God is of love; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 Jn. 4:7).

“I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).  Jesus will say this on the Day of Judgment to many who do works in His name but lack relationship with Him.  It is oh so important to recognize this relational dynamic the Bible clearly teaches. 

“AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH”…

“IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS”

There are 1050 commands (total count with some repetition noted) in the New Testament for Christians to follow. They cover every phase of man’s life in his relationship to God and his fellowmen, both now and hereafter. These commandments, if obeyed, will greatly enrich our earth-life, producing godliness while preparing us for forever with our Lord. They are not to be confused with the Ten Commandments nor the Law of Moses which were abolished in the New Covenant/New Testament, although it should be noted nine of the Ten Commandments were reintroduced in the New Testament as New Covenant commandments (Keeping the Sabbath day holy is the exception).  Following are some of the commandments found in the epistle of 1 John:

*Walk in the Light *Confess sin *Keep His commandments *Keep His words *Walk as He walked *Do not love the world *Do not sin *Practice righteousness *Love in deed and truth *Keep His commandments *Love God more than the world *Love one another *Spread the word throughout the world.

This is some of the “meaty stuff” we often gloss over. And, we must not forget the First and Second “Great Commandments” to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as we love our Self. When the New Testament speaks of keeping commandments, it is talking about these New Covenant commandments. Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15), establishing obedience as the truest measurement of our love for our Lord… the First and Greatest Commandment. Notice obedience is directly commanded three times in 1 John (Keep His commandments 2x, Keep His words). Stating the obvious, we must first know His commandments before we can obey them!

OBEDIENCE… 
THE TRUEST MEASUREMENT OF OUR LOVE