God With Me and Me with God

Did you know there are 1,220 commands in the New Testament? And these commands are not optional. They are clearly stated as what God has called us to do. The New Testament gospel calls for a response in both believers and unbelievers; for the unbeliever to repent and believe and for the believer to do good works. The New Testament offers a direct challenge to the will of the hearer to respond to the gospel and live in light of it, keeping ALL 1,220 commands!

Based on this understanding of keeping God's commands, many Christians quickly discover that it is impossible to adhere to what God requires. Ironically, the greatest challenge in a Christian's life is to actually behave like a Christian. When considering the concept of keeping the New Testament commandments, the feat appears to be so large and practically unreachable, yet Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me” (Jn. 14:21). This can be very discouraging and can even feel condemning.

A proper understanding of Christian behavior involves a relational perspective of behavior rather than a legalistic, one-sided approach. Any consideration of Christian behavior must emphasize both what God has done in Christ and man’s response to God. Therefore, Christian behavior should always be seen through the eyes of a relationship defined as God with me (His grace activity) and me with God (receiving by faith). You see, the successful fulfillment of any scriptural command is dependent upon a source and that source is God through Jesus Christ. The onus is completely on Him and what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do. According to Phil 1:6 we can be confident that "...He who begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ".