"If someone claims, "I know him well!" but doesn't keep his commandments, he's obviously a liar. His life doesn't match his words. But the one who keeps God's word is the person in whom we see God's mature love. This is the only way to be sure we're in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived." - 1 John 2:4-6
Really? Does God really mean that we only know Him well, and the only way to be intimate with God is to keep his commandments? There's no way! No one in any of the churches I've attended have ever lived like that, not even the pastor! Very few people in the Christian schools I've been around kept God's commands, in fact they hardly even went to church, but they said they had a great relationship with God... there's no way this is scriptural!
Isn't that how we like to think? We might not say it out loud, or write it down, but don't you see the truth behind that statement?
As I look at, and examine my life and ask, "Am I keeping His commandments, and living the life Jesus lived?" I can't seem to answer yes. There's thing after thing after thing keeping me from living as Jesus lived.
Attending Christian school for the past seven years I have a whole lot of head knowledge, but every bit of it is useless if I don't put it into action. Any Bible verse you've memorized, and catechism you've memorized, is worthless if your actions aren't catching up with it. Jesus is tired of lukewarm, dead Christians. He wants us to love like He loved, reach out like He did (as in go out to the people most hate and wouldn't want to be seen around), He wants us to walk like He walked. He's coming back for a pure bride, He's coming back for someone dedicated and desiring a relationship and desiring to live like Himself. Not a lukewarm, halfhearted, uncommitted follower.
