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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: ntjenkins Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | What is Brokeness before God? | Is 65:14 | ntjenkins | 71474 | ||
Your question is scary and convicting. It makes me stop and think about the last time I truly approached God with a broken heart. I don't really know how to answer your question because brokenness is not really something that can be grasped intellectually; it is another way of saying conviction of the Holy Spirit. When He is at work, the Holy Spirit (yes, I used HE in reference to the Holy Spirit, not IT) points things out in our lives that are inconsistent with what God wants from us. Upon doing a search for "brokenness," the only scripture I could find was Isaiah 65:14 which reads: My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. Only a reader who has experienced such anguish will be able to identify with the words the prophet writes here. Perhaps the same conviction goes on at Pentecost when 3000 are added to the disciples company and the first Church is born (Acts 2). For those who read those words and wonder what in the world anyone could "cry out in anguish," I'll give you a word or two of warning: don't get too comfortable -- Jesus promised us that we would have trouble. However, "take heart," as He says, because in the same verse He promised he'd be there (John 16:33). Basically, all of the above babbling to say this: Brokenness before God is coming before Him in repentent faith, guided by the conviction of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26 for a more succinct answer). I hope this helps. Nathan |
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2 | Which commandments are we to keep? | Matt 22:34 | ntjenkins | 71467 | ||
This is a tough question -- I have always considered what Jesus refers to as the two greatest commandments (love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind; love your neighbor as yourself) as those to which our Lord refers. A common response to this is usually something along the lines of "but what about the other 613 laws in the Old Testament, including the Ten Commandments?" Jesus provides us with the answer to such a question in Matthew 22:40 when he says "all of the law hangs on these two commandments." If those two commandments are fulfilled, the natural following of that will be that every single detail of every commandment will be fulfilled; this, however, is impossible, unless we confess the Lordship of Christ and claim His words, life, trial, death, and resurrection to be true. Only then can we allow the two greatest commandments (and thereby all other commandments) to be fulfilled BY Christ THROUGH us. I hope this helps. | ||||||