This is still going on? Why? If God has saved anyone through belief in Jesus is there not a reaction? Does any one here not love Jesus? Does anyone here not have a love for anyone like mom and dad, children, wife? Do you not want the best for them? will you not give your best for them?
This GOG thing is destroying so many because it takes focus from Jesus, we start looking at what people are doing and all we see are faults (splinters) because that is all there is (our own planks). Salvation is personal I am Jesus friend Jesus is my lover, Just as you are Jesus friend. The relationship we have with Jesus is our only hope for any future for any of us.
If we love Jesus so intimately why should that not, as with those around us that we love, produce in us the desire to please and do things for them, I like to surprise my children with things, money is tight but they are such a wonderful gift from God to me that they blow my mind, of course I do things for them.
My wife is a different matter, I love her so much, I tell her "I worship the ground she walks on" but even she knows she plays second fiddle to Jesus in my life. But for my wife I also love to do things, but the relationship I have with her is different because it is a two way thing, we do things for each other, and I know what she wants because she tells me, we talk, we have a relationship. She asks me things and I try my best to fulfil her wishes.
It is the same with Jesus but more so, Jesus commands, yet a friend does not command, a lover does not command, there is no commandment in Love, there is request and there is obedience. As I try and be obedient to my wife's wishes, so I know that if Jesus requests anything from me I can do it, He does not ask anything I can not do, He loves me and I love Him so of course I will do whatever He asks of me, or at the very least I will try, as we all do.
I do not say that anything we do is done out of doing from ourselves, the "Filthy rags" scripture talks about, but as I read through this thread that accusation is free flowing from many. I have read this post and all I see is bickering. I am not getting into who is right and who is wrong.
The original post by Grace777x70 was saying about doing things for God through guilt, as if doing could earn our way to the Kingdom, and this is correct because we can not. The posts that followed do not reject this, they added to it. Of course we can not earn our way to God's grace this is a free gift from knowing Jesus. It has also been said on here that if we are not careful we can remove ourselves from being under Gods grace, this is also true, but this state of being does not automatically bring us into the place of earning our way to, or, back to God. This does seem to be a prevalent view and it is this view that keeps us from looking at, and keeping our focus on, JESUS.
When we accepted His rule over our lives it was because God has called us. Each and every one of us, then we start on a life long journey of relationship with Jesus. At first He does command, as He did His disciples, but when they got to know Him He called them friends, His commands became promises, His needs and wants from us become our wants and needs to fulfil His requests BECAUSE WE LOVE HIM.
He is our master, lover, friend and teacher. If any of us move from His way He will bring us back. Yes He uses others to correct our path. But when He does we hear only His voice, we feel only His love, and we reciprocate by loving Him more and more. He is able to bring us to Himself, His servants friends and lovers are His responsibility in the end, not ours to beat over the head with words, but our brothers and sisters who we should show love to and pray for if we feel they are going in the wrong direction.
You all know me by now, I am concerned with "Grace above all else" because the words used to describe it, could lead to complacency within ones faith and that in turn could lead to death. But more than this, I sometimes discern within these arguments a lack of love for our brethren and that in turn could lead to a lack of love shown to the world in which we live, which in turn would lead to hell being full and none of us want that.
Jesus said 'if we love those who love us we are no different from the world', but if we can't love those we are supposed to out of relationship with Jesus, then how can we love those who we know are dying through satans grasp?