“… I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go” ~ Isaiah 48:17b
According to Webster, the verb “profit” means “to improve, to become efficient” or “to benefit.” Again and again in many parts of the Holy Bible, God reminds us that His whole idea is for our gain. “… I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit …” To improve. To become more efficient. To benefit.
Jesus himself declares that He came that we might have a more abundant life. Nowhere does God indicate by word or action that His purpose is to hold us down. To force us into a strange pattern where we must “sit on the lid” and suffer Him to be God while we cringe and obey out of fear. Proper “fear” for God is proper respect for Him. Proper fear of God is simply sanity. It is simply being reasonable. After all, He is God. But over and over again He reminds us that He not only will lead us by the way we should go, but that He does it because His way is the only way that really works to our benefit in the long run. If the teachings of Jesus Christ seem too strict, it is simply because we have strayed so far from what He intended us to be. “Without him [Jesus] was not anything made that was made.” He was there in the beginning and He is teaching what He knows will work to our advantage throughout eternity --- but also now! He commands what He commands, because He knows nothing else will work.
“I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an EXPECTED end.”
Jesus himself declares that He came that we might have a more abundant life. Nowhere does God indicate by word or action that His purpose is to hold us down. To force us into a strange pattern where we must “sit on the lid” and suffer Him to be God while we cringe and obey out of fear. Proper “fear” for God is proper respect for Him. Proper fear of God is simply sanity. It is simply being reasonable. After all, He is God. But over and over again He reminds us that He not only will lead us by the way we should go, but that He does it because His way is the only way that really works to our benefit in the long run. If the teachings of Jesus Christ seem too strict, it is simply because we have strayed so far from what He intended us to be. “Without him [Jesus] was not anything made that was made.” He was there in the beginning and He is teaching what He knows will work to our advantage throughout eternity --- but also now! He commands what He commands, because He knows nothing else will work.
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