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According to Jesus, “Love God above all things with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind and with all your strength,” is the first and greatest commandment.  Stop!!  Without looking into any other commandments, we find that we are incapable of meeting the requirements for getting into heaven.  For entry into heaven, God requires perfect holiness.  Only one person who ever lived on earth could measure up to the standards of the greatest commandment.  Of course, that was Jesus, Our Holy and Precious Savior.

We cannot earn our way into heaven if we are covered in sin – even one.  Nothing short of a sinless life is good enough to merit heaven.  Our best is not good enough.  Fortunately for us, “good enough” was provided for us in the only way that would be acceptable to God.  The perfect lamb had to be sacrificed to atone for our sins.  Our hope and our salvation were finished on the Cross by the only person who could meet the requirements of the first and greatest commandment. 

Everything that we are and everything that we possess has come from Almighty God.  In His eyes, through the cleansing blood and constant mediation of Jesus, we are like His Son.

Through the grace of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are capable of living lives that meet the standards of our standard bearer, Jesus Christ.  To talk about our inabilities is an insult to the One that created us.  We must learn to rely on the supernatural strength within us to overcome the world.  We were made to bring honor and glory to Our Heavenly Father.  Our lives are of priceless value to God’s plans for all eternity.

As Christians, we are continuously going through the process of sanctification.  From the moment that we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit is shaping us into the person that God created us to be.  The process does not stop until our death and we are brought into the presence of the Lord.  We will be perfectly holy when we hear Our Heavenly Father say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

By the time that we stand before Our Creator, we will have undergone a supernatural transformation made possible by the shed blood of His Son.  If we tune into the urgings of the Holy Spirit and develop a personal, passionate devotion to Our Redeemer, the world will see much of our transformation here on earth.   

Not one of us would accept the gift of salvation without the grace of God.  Our human nature rejects the idea that a Savior is needed to get to heaven.  Thus it is imperative that we have Our Heavenly Father, through His grace, reveal to us the truth, the way and the life that is in His Son, Jesus.

This revelation will come to us through spiritual hunger induced by the urgings of the Holy Spirit and often brought on by the prayers of family and friends.  We did not earn it and do not deserve it.  It is all ours by the grace of God.

Once we are born again, we receive a new energy source – the Holy Spirit.   Our new energy source is always on, ready to be dispensed.  The Holy Spirit can assist us mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.  We are no longer limited by our own physical and mental abilities.

There is nothing that can interfere with the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives except our own negative interaction with the Holy Spirit.  Our sins can limit the flow and we can refuse the flow, but the Holy Spirit will always be there for us when we are ready to make ourselves living founts of Jesus’ love.

The wooden cross that became the instrument of death for Jesus contained no life.  Yet that wooden cross was able to meet its responsibilities because of a tree that gave its life for the formation of the cross.

In a similar fashion, Jesus Christ gave His life so that we might become instruments capable of meeting kingdom responsibilities.  Without Jesus giving His life, we would not be able to do the things that God created us to do for all eternity.

Man throughout the ages has tried to define what will make him a better person in order to create for himself a better life.  From a secular standpoint, many of the devised programs, processes and religions have been deemed suitable for a life model.  

The truth of the matter is that there is only one life model that has merit – the plan of salvation.  It is a plan that is offered to all but must be accepted to be received.  

It is well stated here in an excerpt from the Nicene Creed which was written in 325AD:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.  Through him all things were made.  For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.  For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.  On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

If we place our focus on our vision, our job or our problem, without including the direction of the Holy Spirit, we will set expectations that will not be in perfect alignment with God’s plans for our lives.  We will be setting ourselves up for burn out or disappointment because our results will not be satisfying to us nor pleasing to God.

Our focus needs to be on God at all times.  If our focus is on Him, He will direct our ways.  He will establish how high He is ready for us to go.  He knows exactly what we are capable of through His Holy Spirit.

Whenever we are out in the world, we are challenged by many things (bad drivers, rude cashiers, uncaring service attendants, etc.) that annoy us.  We need to learn to turn these things over to the Lord.  If we don’t, we are likely to lose our testimony quickly.

It only takes one quick, nasty comment to destroy our ability to deliver the Good News.  After all, who would want to be a Christian if it leaves the person with a nasty attitude.  This is what the non-believer will see when we react in the flesh instead of letting the Lord handle it.

Most of us are not called by God to be theologians or full time ministers.  We are called by God to be secular laborers who bring His Good News to our homes and our workplaces.  

Aside from our working career, we may have a calling for some type of spiritual service at church such as teaching bible study, singing in the choir, etc.  For most of the rest of us, our service for the church will probably be limited to simple services such as child care giver, parking attendant, usher or perhaps greeter.  We may view these services as quite mundane.  But God sees these things completely differently.  Each of these tasks are ordained for assignment in fulfilling the needs of the Body of Christ and are held in high esteem by Him.  His rewards are not based on what job we serve, but how we respond to His calling to serve His church.