ACTION WORDS

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

Psalm 100:1-3a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Bible is full of a lot of words but the ones that carry the most clout are the verbs.

Why?

Because through them, the Lord is always calling us into action.

By their very nature, verbs are action words, words that the Lord uses to shape our behavior toward accomplishing His will and way. Consider these passages from the scriptures and the actions they drive us toward:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Jesus teaching during His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:7-8)

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  Paul writing final exhortations to the church in Thessalonia (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  Jesus issuing His great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus responding to the question “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” asked by an expert in the law (Matthew 22:37-39)

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” 1 John 2:15

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Jesus teaching His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:16)

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  1 Peter 5:8

I could go on and on but you get the point. The Lord is ever calling us into action as He moves us more and more into His righteousness and holiness through our service unto Him and others. Truly, we serve such an amazing awesome Lord, one whose Name, the Name above all names, we are to lift up on high and grant all glory and honor.

If you doubt this, I refer you to the first three verses of the 100th Psalm and some definitive action words in how we’re to respond to our Lord:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

Note the commands here.

The word of God doesn’t say, “We should shout for joy.” No, it says, “SHOUT for joy to the Lord, all the earth!”

It doesn’t just suggest that we worship the Lord. No, it says, “WORSHIP the Lord in gladness!”

We aren’t given an option whether to come to the Lord and offer our songs of praise. No, it says, “COME before the Lord with joyful songs!”

And we aren’t supposed to have a superficial relationship with the Lord we worship. No, the word of God clearly demands that we “KNOW that the Lord is God!”

Friends, we can’t study from God’s word and then go about living passively. If we do, then we aren’t paying attention to the scriptures that we study from. For the message of the Lord is clear, over and over and over again. The Lord calls us to action through the use of action words and His expectation is that we do one action consistently – OBEY.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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