Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
"Beloved,
if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward
God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments,
and do those things that are pleasing in His sight"
(1Jn. 3:21-22).
Ancient Roman soldiers, we are told, had authority to force people to carry their baggage for one mile. Jesus said to his followers that if they were compelled to go a mile, they should volunteer for a second mile. He also told them that if someone sued them for their coat, they should let that person win the lawsuit and give that person their shirts. He also taught that if a person strikes you on the cheek, you should turn to him the other cheek, making it easy for him to strike you again.
These are the kind of deeds that are beyond the basic, moral commandments of God. Keeping God's commandments will lead to eternal life, but going beyond those commandments in order to please God makes for a very happy and contented life right here and now. It also saves the heart from the burning weight of condemnation.
You know who they are, those very happy souls in Jesus. They are the ones whose conversation always seems to drift toward spiritual matters. Somehow, they just manage to bend the conversation toward Jesus, or to an experience in the Spirit, a dream from the Lord, or some other spiritual matter. When the Spirit falls in a meeting, they are always happiest about it. They seem most at home when someone is testifying or praying, or singing, or just talking about the things of God. They are what my father called a "two-mile believer".
The phrase, a "two-mile believer" is another way of saying someone is a "wise virgin". Such a person is one who loves the feelings that come when he gives the extra mile of service for Jesus. He has kept God's commandments, but then has also done other things which, though not required by God, are pleasing in His sight.
When Jesus stood outside Lazarus' tomb, he paused to speak for a moment to his Father, saying, "I know that thou always hearest me . . ." How did Jesus know that? Listen to Jesus as he continued his prayer: ". . . because I always do the things that are pleasing in thy sight." Yes, Jesus knew his Father was listening because he knew he had not only kept his Father's commandments but also had done those things that pleased God beyond the commandments.
As a boy, my father worked hard one day to do all the chores that his father had given him to do while he was at work. Then, he went beyond those commandments to do other chores that he knew needed to be done. He knew that his father would be well pleased by that when he returned home that evening. He eagerly anticipated his father's return from work that day. So it is when we have kept the commandments of God and then gone beyond that to do more than is required. We then eagerly look for the return of Jesus our Lord. We know in our hearts that Jesus will be well pleased with us.
The apostle James wrote that "mercy triumphs over judgment" (2:13). By this, he was saying that a life that is lived in the will of God has no fear of the Judgment to come, just as the hard-working little boy had no fear of his father's return home. But how would the little boy have felt if he had not even done the chores that his father had commanded him to do? He would have felt the same way that men feel who have not obeyed God's commandments: fearful of the coming Judgment.
May God help us to become the kind of people who are not satisfied just to keep the commandments. Let us strive to go the extra mile and do also the things that please Him. The effect on our spirits will be obvious to all those around us.