Love God in gratitude and love for the gift of God’s righteousness.

Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Was Abraham’s faith an act of the will? To answer that question, let me ask another. Is there a difference between the heart and the will? Is it with the will that a man believes or is it with the heart that man believes? I suggest the Scriptures clearly teach that there is a difference, and that the acts of the will simply reveal the condition of a person’s heart, namely whether it is believing or unbelieving. I submit that the Scriptures teach that unbelief and belief are conditions of heart, not choices of the will. Listen to these verses of Scripture. Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that cGod raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Acts 15:9 “and He [the Holy Spirit] made no distinction between us and them [that is Jew and Gentile], cleansing their hearts by faith.” Heb. 3:12 references the unbelieving heart. Hebrews 3:12 “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” Paul’s reference to Gen. 15:6 stressed his point: Abram believed God’s promise because God did the work in his heart to show him His favor. God did it this way so that Abram would glory in God’s righteousness given according to the Lord’s mercy and grace rather than his own works. So the righteousness of God is credited to those whom God grants the grace of faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught this to His disciples when He explained the parable of the soils. Mark 4:11-12 “And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.” May this encourage us today to live to love with Jesus, not to obtain a righteousness for our glory, but as an expression of love for God who has graciously given us His righteousness through faith in Jesus. If we have believing hearts like Abraham, then we also have the righteousness of God credited to our accounts. To God be the glory! What a privilege it is to express our love for Him by loving those He puts in our paths each day. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com