As Christians, we sometimes make things harder than they have to be. We place a lot of pressure on ourselves when really we don't have to. The good thing is that Jesus recognized that we'd be a big ol' mess and loved us anyway.
We were left with several commandments to help us live our day to day lives. It is easy at times to get legalistic about church and religion, but that wasn't God's intention. His intention was for us to love Him, love others, and seek Him first.
"Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."- 1 Peter 2:17... a surefire way to be in God's Will and to live a functional life. Respect others. Treat them as you'd want to be treated. Listen to them. Seek their opinion. Love the family of believers... even those we may not agree with. Love them hard and long and regardless of what they did to you. And while you're loving, love the world... not the behaviors, but the people. Be Jesus to someone. Love your enemies and pray for them... that's right, kill them with kindness. Fear God. Honor Him above all else. Go to Him first and last and all the times in between. Listen to His Word... internalize it so it is second nature... or first nature, overcoming the flesh. Honor the emperor, or in our case, the government. Don't steal or cheat on your taxes. Drive the speed limit (am I having some conviction here?) Don't murder anyone.
Simple instructions that can impact us for sure. I'm so glad that God makes it simple...
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