Posted by: Bill Hornbeck | March 10, 2013

A Lovely Walk

Today’s devotion comes from 2 John 1:5-6.
 
“Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.  And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.  This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”  2 John 1:5-6.
 
—————————
 
Have you noticed that John repeats himself?  Today’s devotion also brings together parts of two recent devotions.  These Scriptures and devotions are worth repeating:  “which we have had from the beginning” and “just as you have heard from the beginning.” 
 
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;  and His commandments are not burdensome.”  1 John 5:3.
 
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord:  I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts.  And I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”  Hebrews 8:10
                                    

Jesus said:  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart;  and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  For My yoke is easy, and My load is light”. Matthew 11:28-29. 

The Pharisees lay law upon law on the people:  “And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders;  but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”  Matthew 23:4.

In contrast, Christ tied up the heavy loads of the law and laid them on His own shoulders and gave us His Spirit as a yoke:  “in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”.  Romans 8:4.

What is a yoke?  According to Oxford American Dictionary, published in 1980 by Oxford University Press, a yoke is a “wooden crosspiece”.  It is a foundation for pulling or work.

After reading this definition of yoke, I thought of the cross. The cross is a wooden crosspiece that was fastened to Christ as a foundation for His work of carrying away the sins of the world.  The yoke that Christ endured was the cross, but the yoke that Christ give us is His Spirit.

Instead of commandments written on stone, we have commandments written into our minds and on our hearts.  Hebrews 8:10. 

Instead of burdensome commandments on top of us, we have “the love of God” within us causing us to obey His commandments out of this love of God within us.
                                         

Instead of a heavy and deadening yoke of the Law, we have the living Spirit of God.  “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  Ezekiel 36:27

Sound familiar?

 
And so, we transition from His commandments not being burdensome, to a walk.
 
The Christian life is often described as a walk.  (For examples:  “walk in the Light”  Verse 7;  “walk by the Spirit”,  Galatians 5:16;  “walk in My statutes”,  Leviticus 26:3;  “walk in newness of life”,  Romans 6:4;  and “walk in a manner worthy of the calling”,  Ephesians 4:1). 
 
“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
 
“O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;”  Psalm 15:1-3.
 
“He has told you, O man, what is good;  And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”  Micah 6:8
 
“but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  1 John 1:7
 

We have godly examples to follow.  “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”  Genesis 5:24  “These are the records of the generations of Noah.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time;  Noah walked with God.”  Genesis 6:9

To tie everything together and summarize, we “walk according to His commandments” by following Jesus.  We follow Jesus by ”fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith …”  Hebrews 12:2.  We fix our eyes on Jesus by faithfully reading God’s Word and meditating and believing, through God’s grace (“the work of God”), what it teaches us about Jesus.  We can do it.  It is a walk.  And, we have the Good Shepherd (Jesus) to walk with us.  “… He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”  Psalm 23:3.

Sound familiar?

 
“And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.  This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”  Verse 6.

Posted in Uncategorized

«
»

Categories