BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

* * * * continued from p. 26 * * * * Sadly, however, Adam and Eve decided they wanted something else. They listened to the devil, chose to sin, and after that they didn’t want to talk to God anymore. They didn’t even want to be in His presence. Instead, they ran away and hid from Him. Even then, God’s desire didn’t change. His heart still yearned to have a people who would separate themselves to Him. He still dreamed of having a people who would be His special treasure, who would draw near to Him so He could draw near to them. He even made a way for the Israelites to do that under the old covenant. After He brought them out of Egypt, He said: “Ye have seen…how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people…And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6). God’s treasure isn’t gold or diamonds or jewels! (In heaven, He paves streets and builds walls with those.) The treasure of God’s heart is an obedient people. His greatest desire is to have sons and daughters who will walk with Him and do what He says, so He can manifest Himself in their lives and be a Father to them. So that He can be their El Shaddai and be everything they could ever need. God’s Purchased, Special People People who are good want to do good things. Their greatest joy comes from giving to others, and that’s the way God is. His heart yearns to pour out BLESSINGS on people, most especially His children. But He can’t do that to any great measure unless they’re willing to obey Him. If you’re a parent, you understand that. You probably know from experience that when your children are disobedient, you can’t do a lot of the things for them you’d like to do. You can’t give your teenager a car, for example, if they won’t follow the rules you’ve established. Although they might want a car very much, and you might want to give them one, as long as that child refuses to do what you say, you can’t wisely give them a car because it would endanger them. God is in the same position with us. He can’t fully manifest His BLESSINGS and power in the lives of His children when they’re living in disobedience. He’ll do for us all we’ll allow Him to do, certainly. But if we really want Him to put His glory on display in our lives, we must obey Him. We must live out our true identity as it’s described in 1 Peter 2:9. It says: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God's] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” ("Amplified Bible, Classic Edition"). What exactly does it mean to live as God’s purchased, special people; to come out of worldly darkness and live like children of the light? Does it just mean we avoid doing the things the world considers to be sin? No, it must mean more than that because the world has no idea what sin really is. Because it’s under the influence of the devil, the world thinks that things God says are wrong are actually all right. Talk about crazy! Today’s worldly culture has gotten people so confused about morality that they’ve all but completely lost their moral bearings. They’ve become convinced that whatever their flesh wants is OK. Forget about what the Bible teaches. “We don’t have to go by that anymore,” the world says. “The Bible is old fashioned. We know more now. We’ve progressed.” These days, you can turn on the television anytime of the day or night and find adultery, fornication and all kinds of other darkness being broadcast as entertainment. You can find ungodliness being presented as comedy, and people laughing at sin. 28 : BVOV

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