Free will or free choice?

While our choices are ¹free and 100% ours (i.e. we freely choose to do what we want), our ³wills are not. Our wills are tied to our desires. 

To say it another way, our "chooser" is not broken but our "wanter" is.

²And our wants (desires) dictate what we ¹choose to pursue. 

If we desire (want) the wrong things we we choose to pursue the wrong things. 

And our desires are tied to what we value. The more we value something, the more we desire it and the harder we pursue it. 

And we value only what we ⁴see as valuable. 

If ⁴we are blind to seeing God's true value, worth, beauty, wisdom, glory, majesty, and power as our infinite loving Creator - the Source of life, love, and all things - we will never pursue Him as the infinitely valuable and significant being that He is. We will desire and pursue created things and beings instead. 

Why? ⁵We are like God and created to enjoy Him who is most valuable, beautiful, intelligent, glorious, majestic, and loving. Absent a personal relationship with Him - who is the Source of life, love, and all things - we go after His creation (the next best thing) to fill the void of His absence. Particularly other image bearers (you and I) who by design are most like God and have the greatest capacity to love and reflect him most when in union with Him through Christ.

Scripture tells us God is all valuable (glorious) but what about our value and our feeling significant, important? Does it matter? If so, why?

Because God is significant, important, and valuable, we are and must be like Him in order to be able to appreciate and enjoy these qualities in Him. 

We are told in Jas 4: 

[5] "...Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”"?  

What kind of spirit has God put within us? A spirit that longs (is passionate) for infinite love, worth, and glory. Love that can only be satisfied fully by the Source of love - our Creator; not by creation.  

He will not share in (is jealous over) our pursuit or loyalty to any other "lover" because He knows our capacity to value and enjoy Him is unparalleled to all the rest of creation and there is no other true lover who can fill this need and desire in us for love that He designed to be filled only by Him. This is "the spirit He has made to dwell in us."

Not because He needs our love but because we need His. Our being in His image wasn't happenstance. He designed us this way. He is the Creator, we are created...but unlike the rest of creation we are created in His image. Therefore He loves us and desires we experience Him to the maximum of His true worth and our capacity as bearers of His image. 

Everything in creation we seek for life outside of God is temporary. Therefore it comes up short of filling our need for and sense of value-worth (glory). GOD alone is the Source of infinite love. To experience His love to the maximum of our capacity, we must give Him all our loyalty and faithfulness (i.e. have no other "gods" before Him). Otherwise we will never experience His love as it truly is and as we were designed to, but instead we will pursue created things for love outside of and instead of Him.  

Where does this need/desire for significance (glory) come from? Click here. 

For a discussion on the necessity of choice click here.

For a further discussion on how our "wanter" is broken and not our "chooser" click here. 

For a discussion on ability vs responsibility click here

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¹And our choices are ours alone. No one else's, including God. Therefore we are fully accountable for what we value and chose to pursue. 

²Note the progression of the "ands" above. Each deals with a significant shift, but also a vital connection to the previous and following "and" statement. To get to the 2nd "and" you must acknowledge the 1st. And to get to the 3rd we must see the 2nd. 

*our wants-desires dictate what we ¹choose to pursue. 

*our desires-wants are tied to what we value

*we value only what we ⁴see as valuable. 

³Is God free to do whatever he wants? 100%!  But because God is holy He only wants (desires-wills) what is good and best and freely choses righteousness i.e. His character or nature dictates His will/desires, as does ours.

 For a fuller discussion click here.

⁴To see truly, the Spirit of God must reside in us. And that only occurs after we've been "born again" i.e. after we are spiritually regenerated. 

"Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (1st) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” " John 3:30

Before we are born again we are blind to spiritual things - i.e. things pertaining to God's kingdom. The Bible says we are dead to God. Last I checked dead people don't see very well 😉! 

⁵Why does our feeling and desire for significance, importance, and value matter? 

We are like God who is significant, important, or valuable. We must be like Him so we can appreciate and enjoy these qualities in Him. That which is most like God is most able to appreciate and enjoy Him as He is.

God's  significance, importance, and value (glory) are the foundation for ours. Our recognizing this about God is essential to experiencing our own value. The more we see his glory the more we experience our glory in and through Him. 

Messed up image bearers

It is hard for us to acknowledge how messed up we are. And also how messed up the world is collectively because we are individually.

We hope and want to believe we can ¹fix things on our own i.e. be our own deliverer,  provider... our own god. But to do so requires us to be infinite in ability (power), wisdom, love, and life. 

Why? 

Because we were designed for the Infinite God with the capacity to experience infinite love, joy, delight and bliss in Him. Nothing less than the infinite (i.e. God) matches and meets our infinite longing and capacity for love. 

But we are not our own god. We are finite (limited) and therefore dependent. Our biggest problem is not being finite but our refusal to recognize our limits i.e. that we are finite with an infinite need. We will not experience our greatest potential and joy until we acknowledge our limits and need for infinite love, wisdom, and strength. 

All we are and have comes from our Creator. Without God, nothing else would be; not our minds, our bodies with their 5 sense (all gifts from our Creator), nor the beauty and wonders of creation we partake of through all these gifts. 

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Footnotes: 

¹To a limited extent we can fix things but it is only temporary. The solutions we find or bring do not match and meet the fullest extent of our infinite need and capacity for infinite love offered to us as bearers of God's image. 

No matter how well we are able to position ourselves and our world for maximum joy or happiness ²in this life, it is temporary and never lasts. There is always something to disrupt it. If nothing else, ultimately death itself; our own or those nearest to us. 

²So why bother to continue living?  Because God desires we be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with His love, beauty, wonder, and glory and experience the joy in doing so. 

But this requires we grow deeper roots of trust in Him. The more we learn to trust him in this life the more we experience him now and the greater our joy in Him and His joy in us, both now and throughout eternity. 

Which is it... sinners or like God?!

God's love for ⁴us is without conditions. FULL STOP! i.e. to be fully accepted and embraced by God requires nothing from us. God's love for us is based on someone else meeting the requirements, ¹not us. Accepting the offer that Jesus met what God requires is the only thing required of us. 

However, that doesn't mean there is not a good reason for His infinite love for us. There is a major reason. He values and therefore loves us because we are like him - in His image. 

This has nothing to do with what we do but with who we are, who God made us to be. It is not our trying to make ourselves more acceptable and loveable to Him or others.

This is why He loved us before we lifted one finger for Him. In fact even while we were still in our state of rebellious distrust of Him.

"...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us..." - Romans 5:8

"...But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—..." -  Ephesians 2:4-5 

Have you ever scratched your head wondering why he would value and love us while we were still in a state of rebellious distrust toward Him (i.e. "sin")? It is because our rebellion did not cancel out or erase our being like God, it only marred and suppressed it - though severely. 

This resulted in our spiritual sight and sense going completely dormant (until His Spirit opens our eyes). We are now "unplugged" from God (the source of all things), broken, and blind to seeing His infinite worth, beauty, and love. As a result, we ascribe the worst possible intent by God on why we struggle or experience loss and pain. The Bible describes this as being spiritually blind and dead to God. 

But our capacity for love, light, and life didn't go away and is still fully intact - we are still like God - even when we don't trust Him i.e. we still are designed to love and be loved and we long for this. We are hard-wired for love, if you will, because God is love and we are like Him, created to be in a community of love with Him. 

God values and loves our being like Him because we still have the capacity to fully partake of the community of love that God is as Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. 

This capacity for infinite love never went away; it only ceased to function properly i.e. it went dormant if you will. In our broken and spirituality-blind condition, we now long for the wrong things - instead of the only true thing that can fill our longing for love - because we are blind to the true Source of love and life - i.e. our Creator.

A recap and summary 

Our being in God's image is vital to how God sees us and who we are. This means there is good reason for Him to love us i.e. because of who we are, not what we do. 

We are not just rebellious - aka "dirty rotten sinners." This is true but only half the story - and the far lesser half - once we accept his offer. The more important half is we are still also like God with an infinite capacity to fully engage, delight in, and commune with the Infinite God and experience His infinite love, glory, and joy!!!

Being like God has nothing to do with what we do (our good deeds) for others (God and other bearers of His image) - when it comes to establishing a good standing with Him - but has to do with something about us - i.e. who we are, not what we do. 

God's love has nothing to do with something that comes from us or is offered by us - i.e. something we do in an attempt to earn His love or appease His disapproval. 

Our only requirement is to recognize that Christ did everything necessary to fully restore us to His Father and accept this as a free gift (the essence of the gospel - good news - of grace). 

Do you receive this? If you only know this in your head but haven't fully believed it, you only need to recognize He did everything necessary to restore you so He can pour out His love on you. A love He already has for you that you are blocking by your not believing this good news. Because nothing you can do will restore you to God...nothing - not your abilities or good deeds!!! 

Accept His offer of complete restoration. If you are sincere in accepting and receiving His offer of perfect love, He will legally and immediately restore you now, and ²completely upon His return.

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (you can't buy it or earn His acceptance of you)." - Revelation 22:17 

For God to have a relationship with us in the same way the Father and the Son have with each other, we had to be like him in one essential way i.e. we had to be able to receive and return love to God like God does between and among the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit - i.e. God IS love. Love is the central and essential core of who God is!!! We are like Him i.e. we are hard wired for this same love. 

But love for God first, not just between each other. Our love for others must flow out of our love for God. This is why the greatest commandment is to love God first, then our neighbors. 

Does God need anything from us? No! He has Himself i.e. He is complete within Himself.

But when we say he loves us without conditions, that is not to say he doesn't have longings and desires for us and from us. He yearns to commune with us. Why? Because we are like God and God is love. He longs for us to experience the fullness of who He is so, like Him, we too experience it.

He is the source of love, life, and all things and knows our greatest meaning, purpose, and joy is found only in Him!! His calling us to love Him above everything else is because He knows He is our best and desires our best i.e. God is love.

James 4:5 says:

"Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us' ”?

Nevertheless, His love for us is without conditions i.e. no deeds are required from us in order for His love to be set on us.

This is possible only because Christ fulfilled all the conditions ³required and necessary for him to remove the barrier between us and love us freely and fully. Even to the point that the Father loves us in the very same way He loves His only eternally begotten Son. Jn 17:23.

"I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."

So does our love and pursuit of God matter since it's not required?

While there should never be ⁴expectations or conditions put on us for the gifts freely given to ⁵us or on others for the gifts we gladly give them, it is legitimate to enjoy and eagerly anticipate the appreciation from others for those gifts.

When gratitude is shown for the gifts we graciously receive, it delights the giver because they know their gift (and love) is not just accepted but also enjoyed and appreciated.

This reminds us of the 10 lepers that Christ healed and only one returned and showed gratitude. As a result, Christ engaged him further because he demonstrated by returning to Christ that he appreciated what Christ did. Lk 17:12-19.

To hope for and enjoy someone else's appreciation for what we give them is different than ⁵demanding their gratitude.

This also happens to be how God loves us and enjoys a relationship with us. God doesn't ⁶demand our obedience in exchange for His love. He delights in it. We are this way because God is this way. We are in his image.

In order for him to have this kind of love relationship with us we had to be like him as much possible without actually being him.

For a further discussion on why God loves rebels but not rebellion click here 

Are we rebels against God? Click here 

For a further discussion on the solution to our rebellion click here. 

For a further discussion on why God delights in our love click here.

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¹Who met them? Christ!!! For only He could, not us!

²The claims of Christ and His return!! and Knowing God but not fully yet.

³this is necessary because we fail to. No one fulfills the greatest commandment to love God with everything we are and have. Do you? I certainly don't!

⁴Expectations and conditions come from those who need love. God wants our love but doesn't need it. He is love as a community of love among the Father, Son, and Spirit. And when we are filled with His love we are the same way i.e. we don't need the love of others because we already have the perfect love of God.

⁵Who is "us." Is it humanity in general or us who have trusted Christ? It is both. God values all his image bearers by virtue of them being like him. But only those who accept his offer of restoration actually participate in and experience that love as we are designed to.

⁶We demand things from others only because we believe we must have them in order to be loved. God doesn't because He is already a community of love between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. He doesn't need us in order to be complete (whole) and therefore does not need to demand our obedience. 

However because He is love he delights in our entering into and participating in his love. He seeks - "requires" - us to love him because he knows that is where we are most complete and find greatest joy.

The key to answered prayer

Is there a key to answered prayer? Let's see.

We are told to...

1. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psa 37:4. 

In this verse their are two parts; our delight in God and our desires. The key to the 2nd part is the 1st part. When our delight is in God first, our desires align with His. When they do, He gives us what we both want. To say it another way, we both want the same thing. 

2. "Seek 1st the kingdom of God and all these things will be added..." Matt 6:33. 

Here we are told to focus on the Kingdom not on things we need. When we do, we will receive what is needed.

And...

3. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread...Matt 6:9-11

All 3 of these passages are saying the same thing. If God and His agenda are first, then everything else aligns and follows. Our desires and goals become one and the same as God's. This is what ensures that he'll grant them and why He delights to do so.

In the Lord's prayer above, 3 conditions are listed before we are invited to ask for our daily bread.

*Acknowledging God's position and person - "Our Father in heaven..." i.e. all we are and have are only by the gracious hand of our loving Father above. 

*Our desire for God's Kingdom (just rule) to come on earth - "Your kingdom come..." And

*A desire for His will to be done on earth the same way it is in heaven - "Your will be done on earth as in heaven..." 

After we have acknowledged these 3 prerequisites, then we are invited to ask God for our daily physical and material needs, but not before. Otherwise, we are reversing God's prescribed order i.e. things become our focus, not the provider of those things, as well as the Giver of life and Source of love.

Seeing our heart

¹Unanswered prayer is the best way for us to get to know who we really are - what's really in our heart - who or what do we value most, and why do we desire it.

There is nothing wrong with asking God to provide for our daily physical and material needs, but if he does ¹not grant us what we wish and ask for, prayer is God's invitation and an opportunity for us to examine our hearts and make sure we are delighting in Him above everything else and aligned with His heart first and foremost. This not only honors Him as the giver but is where we flourish most and find our greatest joy.

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Footnotes:

¹Have you ever wondered why many of your prayers go unanswered? It may be because you are asking for the wrong reason. James says it this way...

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." - James 4:3 

Is making a lot of money legit?

Is it legitimate to pursue making a lot of money as an end in itself? No.

However, note the above says the love of money is the problem, not money itself.

If we diligently pursue doing things with excellence for the glory of God, it is not only totally legitimate to be as productive and fruitful as possible, but what we are called to do. 

From the beginning in Genesis and throughout the New Testament, God's mandate to humanity was to be fruitful and multiply i.e. bear much fruit. This honors God.

This may result in financial success (and sometimes does, particularly if God gave you the temperament and skills to be an effective business person). But it's not automatically a guarantee. 

Since making money is not the focus (though it can clearly be a legitimate measuring stick of success under the right conditions), but the pursuit of excellence for Christ's sake is i.e., doing everything - including "business" - for God's honor (glory) regardless of whether we see a significant financial reward or not. 

We should always strive for excellence and never back off from being as fruitful as possible, both spiritually and materially. Doing things with excellence has more to do with effort and intent than outcome. Backing off from doing all things for God's glory is not optional. Honoring God in all we say and do is the calling of every believer.
 

What about our skills?

What if our skills and abilities, energy, stamina, strength, and mental sharpness have considerably dropped off with age or for some other reason, such as overall health or injury? Is this a legitimate reason to slow down? 

Because money is not the final measuring stick of a legitimate endeavor but intent to honor God is, we are still to pursue things with excellence regardless of our skills i.e. being excellent for Christ's sake always remains the ¹same even though our abilities change over time (some for better - like increased wisdom through increased life experience - and some for worse, like declining physical and mental stamina). 

Doing everything with excellence for the glory of God should ²always be our goal and modus operandi, regardless of the resources or skills we may or may not have; whether those resources change, decline, or increase.

What about excellence vs doing just enough to "get by?"

Excellence in the marketplace, in contrast to the lack of excellence, provides a greater opportunity to put God on display; to demonstrate that living for God is a more excellent and productive way than not living for him and living only for self-advancement. 

This is exactly why Joseph excelled in every circumstance he found himself in and was entrusted to oversee things wherever he went. He was eventually promoted to second in command in Egypt, probably the greatest nation on earth at that time. This led to great prosperity, which in turn was used to save many lives, including his own family. 

Truly knowing and living for God makes us more productive, resourceful, and excellent, resulting in greater honor to God and service to humanity made up of fellow bearers of God's image.

Excellence in attitude.

We are not only to be excellent in our effort but excellent in attitude e.g., humble, diligent, caring, grateful etc., which usually, though not automatically, leads to an excellent outcome. In fact, the right attitude leads to the right outcome. Therefore, knowing God is more excellent in the work environment (or any area of endeavor) than not knowing Him.  It is the superior way of living life. 

But we must distinguish between truly knowing God versus knowing about God. They are not the same. 

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Ecc 9:10  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. 

Col 3:23  Whatever you do G4160, work G2038b heartily G5590, as for the Lord and not for men, 

Do – G4160

ποιέω - poieō - poy-eh'-o

Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct): - abide, + agree, appoint, X avenge, + band together, be, bear, + bewray, bring (forth), cast out, cause, commit, + content, continue, deal, + without any delay, (would) do (-ing), execute, exercise, fulfil, gain, give, have, hold, X journeying, keep, + lay wait, + lighten the ship, make, X mean, + none of these things move me, observe, ordain, perform, provide, + have purged, purpose, put, + raising up, X secure, shew, X shoot out, spend, take, tarry, + transgress the law, work, yield. Compare G4238.

Work – G2038b

ἐργάζομαι - ergazomai; from G2041; to work, labor: — accomplish (1), accomplished (1), accomplishing (1), achieve (1), committing (1), do (1), do...work (1), does (3), doing (1), doing...work (1), done (2), make...living (1), perform (4), performed (1), performing (1), practice (1), produces (1), traded (1), work (9), work be done (1), work do...perform (1), working (7), works (1), wrought (1).

Heartily – G5590

ψυχή - psuchē; of unc. or.; breath, the soul: — heart (2), heartily (1), life (36), lives (7), mind (1), minds (1), person (1), persons (3), soul (33), souls (14), suspense *(1), thing (1).

From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: - heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

Thayer Definition:

1) breath

1a) the breath of life

1a1) the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing

1a1a) of animals

1a1b) of men

1b) life

1c) that in which there is life

1c1) a living being, a living soul

2) the soul

2a) the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.)

2b) the (human) soul in so far as the right use of the aids constituted it that offered it by God it can attain its highest end and secure eternal blessedness, the soul regarded as a moral being designed for everlasting life

2c) the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from other parts of the body) i.e. put your heart into it. Do it with passion, spirit, and energy.

As a believer in business for over 45 years, I have wrestled with what is legitimate and what is questionable in "doing business." 

The following links are some conclusions I have come to so far, based on scripture first and my own experience, failures, struggles, and successes. 

For those who have wrestled with these same things, I trust you will find the below helpful. 

For a discussion on the fallacy of the health and wealth gospel, click here.

For a further discussion on excellence, click here. 

For a discussion on sowing and reaping, click here. 

For a discussion on legitimate vs illegitimate business, click here 

For a discussion on giving what you have, click here.

For a discussion on being diligence vs undisciplined, click here

For a discussion on resting in God, click here

For a discussion on whether competition is good or bad click here

For a further discussion on being diligent, click here

For a discussion on what is more important, great effort or great faith, click here

For a discussion on the fallacy of the health and wealth gospel, click here.

For a discussion of what exactly is money/currency click here.

For a discussion how faith is hard work click here.

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¹And as we mature, our walk with God should strengthen, so this becomes a more consistent and common part of our life, not less common.

²Whatever you have, no matter how much or how little, use it with all the faith, strength, and energy God gives you for his glory.

being righteous, living righteously

Is there a difference between being righteous (our legal status before God) and living righteously i.e. our daily conduct? 

Even though God grants us total righteousness (perfect legal standing) before Him in Christ, he still desires us to ¹live righteously. 

It is only through ¹righteous living we are most aligned and in tune with God ⁵practically. We love others as we are designed to, and best put Him on display - i.e. honor and glorify Him - through loving actions toward others. But these actions do not save us. 

He designed us to be aligned with his will in our everyday conduct, so we might 

1. experience more of Him and His love and 

2. best honor and glorify Him before others. 

3. Advance His ⁵kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

These are the desired outcomes of the good standing He has fully secured for us and assigned to us in Christ. 

God grants us right legal standing, so we might live right. We don't live right to enhance our legal standing with Him (this has already been perfectly settled in and by Christ), but so we might partake of Him more fully in our everyday lives. 

He wants us to live righteously so that we might more fully partake of and participate in His love, life, and joy, and pass it on to others more effectively. This brings more attention (honor) to Him, so others might be drawn to Him through us and thereby also find in Him fullness of life by means of our righteous conduct. This advances and establishes His righteous ⁵reign on earth.

The idea of being made right so we would live right is expressed in several places in scripture, but most often and clearly in Paul's letter to the Romans.

‭‭Romans 6:4 ESV‬‬

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

‭‭Romans 7:4 ESV‬‬

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (i.e. we are perfectly right with God in Christ). For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us..." - Rom ‭8:1‭-‬5‬

Each of the above 3 passages shows that the desired outcome of God making us right with Him (i.e., righteous before Him legally) is that we might live righteously. 

In fact, in several of Paul's letters (Ephesians, Colossians, ³Hebrews and Romans) the first part of these letters lays out what God has done for us regarding our unrighteous status - i.e. He has made us righteous in and through Christ.  The remaining part of each letter addresses how we are to conduct our lives in light of this and in response to it.

This is clearest in the entire book of Romans, where the first 11 chapters elaborate on our alienation from God and what He has done to restore us in Christ - i.e., the explanation of the good news (gospel). Then, from chapter 12 on, it shifts to how we conduct ourselves in light of this good news. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, (i.e. in light of what I have said up to this point regarding our dilemma and God's solution) to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Rom 12:1

The ending phrase "spiritual worship" indicates this is a heartfelt response, not a rigid duty or legal requirement. A response to what? To God providing the righteousness, we must have to be in good standing with the Father, by assigning Christ's perfect standing with the Father to us.

Did only Paul address this? No, Peter, James, and John did as well.

"When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness i.e. in our everyday conduct..." - 1 Pet 2:23-24

This connection by multiple writers isn't a coincidence. Righteous living must always flow out of our righteous standing with God (because we could never meet the requirements of living a perfectly righteous life unaided) i.e., righteous living will and must always flow out of a righteous standing before God. If it does not - if there is no fruit of righteous living - the scriptures call us to make sure we are truly His child. This is clearly implied and stated explicitly in the above and other passages. So much so that scripture tells us if how we live has not changed since we came to Christ, we need to be sure we truly know Him. 

For a further discussion on being right vs living right click here 

What is the good news? click here

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Footnotes: 

¹What exactly is righteous living or living righteously? When our conduct is perfectly aligned with God's ⁴design and will.

And what is God's design (will) for us and all creation? That in everything we do and say we honor and glorify him. And in doing so, we also experience our greatest significance - glory. 

And how do we best honor and glorify him? By loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. Love (i.e. relationship) is the driving force of righteous conduct. Carrying out these commandments or living righteously - i.e. treating others as we wish to be treated - is the result. 

God's love for us is first, and our responding back to him in love is the result. We will not value or love God above all others until we grasp and experience his value of or love for us. 

God is the initiator and source of love. If we are not plugged into Him and thereby drawing strength from Him, we can never be loving as we were designed to be. When we see and experience his love, we "light up," come to life, bear fruit, and become the true bearers of His image as we were created to be.  

God is the power supply, we are the conduits. He is the treasure, we are jars of clay. He is the vine, we are the branches.

Which comes first, our valuing and loving Him or Him valuing and loving us? We love him because he first loved us.

³There is good reason to believe Paul dictated the book of Hebrews to Luke, who wrote it. The way the letter flows and unfolds - the thorough knowledge of the OT - is characteristic of other letters by Paul (a well-studied Jewish Pharisee), not someone who is a Greek Gentile such as Luke. 

But the style and elegance of the Greek used in the book is indicative of Luke also seen in Acts and Lukes gospel. So some suggest Hebrews was a collaboration between Paul and Luke. 

There are other reasons some believe Paul dictated it. Primarily because, as far as we know, all but one of Paul's letters (including Hebrews) was dictated. Possibly because of poor eyesight from his being blinded by beholding Christ on the road to Damascus.

Also Luke was a highly educated Greek national and medical doctor, fluent in "high" Greek. 

Hebrews was written with grammatical precision, using several words unique to the book of Hebrews. This was uncharacteristic of Paul's other letters but similar to the gospel of Luke. For these reasons, some think Paul didn't write it but dictated it to Luke. Explaining why it has characteristics of both Paul and Luke. The fact that he considered himself the apostle to the Gentile adds even more credibility to this view. 

It is also believed Paul deliberately did not identify as the author since he was considered the apostle to the Gentiles and not looked upon favorably by the Judaizers from Jewish circles within the church. 

Some suggest Paul deliberately left his name off to avoid any resistance to the letters' reception and wide circulation within the Jewish community at large. After all, why would the apostle to the Gentiles be writing a letter to Hebrews?  

But Paul's love for his own people was clearly expressed in Romans chapter 9. Knowing this, it would make perfect sense that he still had an intense desire to reach his people even though God had called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles. 

⁴this is given either as a direct order in writing, verbally, and by Christ's example - all of which are recorded in scripture.

⁵and advance His kingdom most. Our actions matter, either advancing or hindering God's kingdom. 

Whoever is not with me is against me

Every decision we make is a choice between doing something ¹God's way or my way - doing things to advance God's agenda (kingdom) or mine.  

Christ said it this way, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." 

There appears to be no in-between. This sounds pretty harsh until we dig in a little more.

Ultimately, the key underlying difference between God's way and ours is who do we depend on or trust ²more in our choices and the actions we take - God or ourselves?

 
Choosing our way feels natural and normal, i.e. it's our default setting. It's not necessarily conscious because it's all we know. It seems harmless and doesn't feel like a choice against God. 

But if we are designed to know and love God with all we are and have and in turn put Him on display in all we say and do - thereby making Him known - but do not, are we not rebels and enemies of God? Do all things for the glory of God, love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and be holy because God is holy is not hyperbole or casual statements. It is who God made us to be.

If God is the source of life, love, and all things, to take and use what God has created to advance our own designs and purposes without consideration of God's ³designs and purposes in giving us all things is an act of rebellion against God. It's not that God is a die-hard and doesn't want us to enjoy life. It is because he is life and there is no true and lasting joy apart from Him. 

Any joy we experience in life that is not in, by, or through Him is temporary. When we act to the contrary, our actions (or lack of action to honor Him) are saying to God - and anyone who knows and observes us - that God is irrelevant. When in fact He is just the opposite i.e. He is the most relevant and important being of all. To not act accordingly not only dishonors God for who He is, but it is living a lie that harms us and those we interact with. 

The reality is God is the most important being of all. Without Him, there would be nothing else i.e. all we are and have is from His hand.

Paul said it this way, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." ‭‭Rom‬ ‭11:36‬ ‭

If we bristle at this, it only confirms how subtle and deep our rebellion runs.

But when we stop and consider our life, most give little to no thought as to why God gives us all that we have - i.e. we rarely consider what part God plays in why He does. Instead we should be asking why He gives us life, breath, air to breathe, health, our abilities (physical, mental, athletic, artistic etc.), food, sunlight, rain, sight, taste, smell, hearing, natural resources, etc. and how we can use what he provides to give Him rightful honor and thanks. 

Do you thank Him for all you are and have. If not, is this not an indication of rebellion towards Him who gives us all things?

This would be like our child misusing the things that we as parents have labored to acquire and provide, with little or no regard by them of our wishes as the parent. This can result in the child's harm and/or harm to others and often does (like when a child uses and wrecks their parent's car injuring themselves or others).

It's not that a loving parent doesn't want their child to enjoy and use what they provide. A loving parent loves their child and wants them to feel their love. They want what's best for them.   

But a loving parent also does not want their child to be ⁴harmed. And as a parent with much more life experience (i.e. a better understanding of good and evil if you will), they know us better than we do and how to better use and benefit from what they provide. 

With our heavenly parent, it is far more significant! He knows better than we do what is best for us. He is what is best because all things are by, though, for Him, which is also our greatest joy.

No matter how little we consider God as we go about our lives, the reality is all that we are and have not only comes from God but is maintained by him. Without God, nothing would be, including ourselves, with all the unique abilities we were born with. In reality we hate to acknowledge this. It grates against every fiber of our being because we do not want to be accountable to an all Supreme Being for our choices and actions. 

Considering what God wants is not only the right thing to do but is best for us and others. Who would know what is best for us and how to use what God provides better than Himself? Us!?! Unless, of course, you don't trust Him. And isn't that precisely the issue, our distrust?

We should always seek to use what he provides as He desires and directs. Not because he needs to be in charge (He already is) but because he knows what is best and wants that best for us.

For a discussion on why God allows evil click here and here.

For a discussion on why God loves rebels click here

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¹This was the essence of the choice presented to Adam (primarily) and Eve on whether to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

²And what exactly is it that we should trust? That God not only knows what is best but desires what is best for us. And what He desires He can fully accomplish, i.e. He's all-powerful. In short, we trust that God loves us and knows what is best better than we do and perfectly able to bring all this about.

³And what exactly are those designs? For us - His image bearers - to be the caretakers of His creation, and be fruitful and multiply. 

Why? So that we can enter into and partake of the good gifts of God and extend them to others. Our extending them to others enables us to more fully partake of who God is and designed us to be for His honor i.e. glory.

Why? Because God loves us and his creation and wants us to experience the joy of being in a relationship of love with Him like He has experienced from all eternity past between the Father and Son, in, through, and by the Spirit. i.e. He desires we partake of the joy and delight of receiving and giving love in the same way He does. 

For a fuller discussion on the above, click here. 

All that we are and have is designed and intended to aid us in participating in and experiencing the eternal joy and bliss between the Father and His Son in, through, and by the Spirit. We, however are rebellious creatures who use God's creation to do just the opposite, i.e. to attempt to be independent of God. If we persist He honors our choice along with the consequences. 

⁴This does not mean God will not allow us to experience short-term pain. He often does so we might experience long-term gain. 

Does God want anything?

As the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists, naturally God must value Himself. That is a given. But how does God feel about the things He created, like you and I?

God values us as well. But why?

Does God get something from us that he needs? No. God needs nothing. 

‭‭"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything" - the apostle Paul - Acts‬ 17:24‭-‬25‬ ‭

Everything that is comes from Him. 

God doesn't need anything because he has everything He needs within the community of perfect love between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. Everything else that is, flows out of God and all His fullness, i.e., who He is - a fullness so great that God simply spoke everything else that is into existence. He is the only being who can say, "I AM!"

So why then does He value us? 

It is because we are in his image - i.e. like Him. But how or why does this matter? 

By virtue of our being like Him we can give Him something he desires and enjoys. It is through Christ first (the Son of man and God) and now us, that he reveals Himself to others, that he might also bring others into the divine dance of love and joy within and among the community of Father and Son and Spirit. In short, He desires others (you and I) to experience Him, for our sake, and to share this with those like Him, i.e. other image-bearers, so they may also partake of Him, i.e. for ¹their sake.

Wanting something is not necessarily selfish. We can desire and find joy in someone else's gain solely for the benefit it brings to them. 

The reason we are this way is that this is the way God is - we are like him. 

We can also relate to this because we know what it feels like to want the best for our children. We want this solely for their sake, not ours, simply because they are our kids; they come from us, not completely unlike the way we come from God, i.e. we are his offspring; bearers of His image. 

Some other links that touch on different aspects of God valuing us:

Does God value us

What does God value in us

Our worth is based on what?

Why in God's name does he love us?

God's love is based on who or what?

Created for glory

Lovable vs lovely

Hardwired for greatness

The most valuable values us 

Our worth God's glory

Giving and receiving glory

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Footnote:

¹Though we gain joy from others benefiting by our care and love, the joy is in knowing they benefited, i.e. we don't do it for our joy, but theirs. It just so happens we also get joy in this because we are like God, who receives joy in bringing joy to others.