1 Samuel 7:2-4, 6 NIV ” Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.” https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.7.2-6.NIV

There is some confusion about what it means to be a Christian or someone acceptable to the One True God. Some say we must merely believe in God and in Jesus Christ, Who is God in the flesh. Merely believing without obeying is remaining the same as before we believed, and is no different than the demons who also believe and fear the wrath of God to come. God is not interested in being an addition to our lives. What kind of God would He be if He required that we only believe in Him but nothing else? There is an element of belief required of God’s people for them to be acceptable to Him. This is the belief that we are born rebels against Him and incapable, by any amount of personal effort, to make ourselves acceptable to Him. We are required to believe that God came to earth in the man Jesus, died on the cross as punishment for our rebellion after living a perfect life, so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for us. We must believe that He rose from the dead and lives now in heaven, from where He will return again to raise His people from the dead to live with Him forever on a new earth and will judge all those from all time who rejected Him sending them to hell to live forever in torment and suffering. By believing these things, we then take action by confessing our rebellion and its evil against God, admitting that His ways are right and our ways are wrong. We repent of these evil deeds for which Christ died for us, no longer living in them but running from them to live holy and righteous lives pleasing to God. In obeying everything Jesus commands, we demonstrate our love for Him, showing our faith in Him, that we do believe, and have aligned our lives with His will in accordance with that belief. Doing God’s will is not accomplishing heaven for us, but it demonstrates that God’s accomplishment for us is working itself out in our lives for His glory now and forevermore.

RUN TODAY’S PLAY OF THE DAY: Faith in God must be more than belief—it must result in obedience to His commands.